By FHSU SPORTS INFORMATION
DENVER – Fort Hays State Tennis fell in a road match against No. 36 ranked MSU Denver by a score of 5-2 on Sunday afternoon (Mar. 12). MSU Denver improved its overall record to 7-4 and the Tigers moved to 5-6 on the season. Maria Paz Diaz and Grace Unruh scored points for Tigers in singles play, helping the Tigers to a better result than they had against the Roadrunners in the fall portion of the 2022-23 season.
Fort Hays State won games within all three doubles matches, but the Roadrunners escaped with the first team point. The No. 1 doubles team of Irina Alfonso and Maria Paz Diaz forced their match into a tiebreaker, falling 7-2. Stefany Stemmer and Kylie Aufdengarten won three games at the No. 3 doubles position and the No. 2 doubles team of Grace Unruh and Fiorella Mendez was held to just one game win.
The Tigers collected two wins in singles play from Paz Diaz (No. 4) and Unruh (No. 6). Paz Diaz was one of two Tiger players that had to settle their matches in a tiebreaking set, winning the decisive tiebreaker 10-7. Aufdengarten went into the tiebreaking set at the No. 5 singles spot and was outscored 10-2. Unruh notched her singles victory in straight sets, 6-3 and 6-4.
Mendez (No. 3) won eight games within her two sets, falling 6-4 in both frames. MSU was able to defeat the Tigers in both the No. 1 and No. 2 singles spots for two more team points. Stemmer generated seven game wins in a 6-4, 6-3 loss, while Alfonso took a pair of games in the first set of her contest.
The Tigers will take the court again on Friday (Mar. 17) with two scrimmage matches against Barton CC and Iowa Central CC in Great Bend, Kansas starting at 10:30 a.m. The Tigers also have a scrimmage match against Iowa Central scheduled for March 23 in Hays before returning to regular season action on March 25.