Story by MAYAN PAZ Photos by ELI BLANKINSHIP
Tiger Media Network
In their last home match for the fall semester, the FHSU women’s tennis team triumphed against Kansas Wesleyan University with an impressive 6-1 win. The Tigers are now 3-2 in the fall season.
To start the match, the Tigers won all three doubles matches, getting the point to go ahead with a 1-0 lead. They continued to win all of their first five singles matches, comfortably securing the win. The only loss came from the number one seed matchup of Yone Perriero, who lost to Hayden Bellamy 6-4, 2-6, 1-0 (10-8), in a thrilling match that lasted well after every other match was done.
FHSU Head Coach Brian Flax said that he was happy with his players’ performance.
“I was really happy. We talked about before the match that this is the last duel we’re having in the fall and and when people ask how the fall season goes, it’s a lot easier to say we were 3-2 than if we were 2-3,” he said. “So I thought our play was pretty good. We’ve still got to continue to work on intensity and those types of things all the way throughout the match. But overall, I was really pleased.”
Pereiro played her final home match, as she will run out of eligibility at the end of the fall semester. Pereiro, originally from Acapulco, Mexico, transferred to Fort Hays from Florida National University and played for the Tigers for 2.5 years. She holds an overall 11-30 record in her singles games as a Tiger, and 15-28 in the doubles matchups.
Despite feeling disappointed by her loss in the last match, she said she is very happy with the team’s performance.
“I think we played really good doubles and singles. I think it was great,” she said. “I am not as happy with my singles as with the overall team score. But the important thing is that the team won. So I’m happy.”
On Friday, the Tigers will travel to Pratt Community College to play in an invitational doubles tournament. This tournament will not be counted for the overall record and will be an opportunity for Flax to run his doubles pairings before going on a break from competition until February.
For Pereiro, that would be her farewell from FHSU, and she spoke about how, despite it being played on the road, it will be nice to be with the team at her final match.
“I really enjoy doubles. I think it takes the pressure out. I really enjoy playing doubles. I really like to play with my doubles partner (Ines Lattore against KWU). I feel like there’s not much preparation we do before that, as in singles, since we don’t feel a lot of pressure. It’s more fun,” she said. “I think it’s going to be a very nice tournament that we’re going to have as a last goodbye from tennis and Fort Hays, even though we’ll play in Pratt, but it will still be with the team.”
After Friday’s doubles tournament in Pratt, FHSU will resume play in the spring on February 21 on the road against Hastings College.
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