Mercer University
Lipscomb
Tennis Teams Drop A Couple Of Heartbreakers To Lipscomb
3/24/2012 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
MACON, Ga.--The Mercer tennis dropped a pair of key Atlantic Sun matchups in gut-wrenching fashion to Lipscomb on Saturday afternoon at the Leroy Peddy Tennis Center. Both matches came down to the final two pairings in singles play, with the Bison clinching 4-3 wins as a result of wins in those respective pivotal matchups.
The Mercer men's team dropped to 3-9 overall and 0-4 in A-Sun play. Lipscomb's men improved its overall mark to 6-9 on the season and garnered its first league win, improving to 1-2 in the A-Sun.
Meanwhile, the Mercer women dropped to 2-9 overall and 0-4 in conference matches. Lipscomb improved its overall mark to 4-7, while evening its A-Sun ledger to 1-1.
After dropping the doubles point with losses at the No. 2 and No. 3 positions, the Bears responded with some strong play in the singles competition.
Lipscomb would pick up wins at the No. 3 and 6 positions to open singles play and fatten its advantage to 3-0. However, that's where things got interesting as the Bears stormed back with a trio of victories to bring the match all square.
The Bears would pull back their first point of the afternoon at the No. 5, as Sarah Hanna scored a solid, 6-4, 6-3 win over Lipscomb's Danielle Hansen.
Lucie Payrat built off yesterday's strong performance and improved her individual mark to 7-3 on the campaign, as she defeated Alyssa Bellini 7-5, 6-3 at the No. 1. That would bring the Bears within a point of the visitors, at 3-2
The Bears would bring the match to level terms, through Jennifer Lada at the No. 2 position. Lada battled past Lipscomb's Dehna Welcher, 6-3, 7-6.
Mercer appeared to be poised to complete the furious rally and notch its first conference win of the season, as Amanda Bertani raced to a 6-2 first set win over Lipscomb's Elizabeth Keevil at the No. 4 flight. However, Keevil battled back to force a tiebreaker after a 6-1 win in the second set.
Both Bertani and Keevil expended plenty of energy in the tiebreaker, but Keevil would eventually outlast Bertani with a 7-6 (5) win to claim the match for the Bison, and hand Mercer a heart-wrenching defeat.
Like the women, the Mercer men dropped a 4-3 decision to the Bison in heartbreaking fashion.
Lipscomb was able to claim all three doubles matches to claim the first point of the afternoon. At the No. 1 position, Miguel Cortez and Oliver Strecker teamed up to defeat Mercer's Victor Dias and David Barton, 8-6.
At No. 2, Tanner Brown and Stuart Tierney downed Pierre Tafelski and Peter Tauchner, 8-5.
The Bison completed the sweep of the doubles point, as Colby Shaw and David Salazar posted an 8-4 win over Mercer's Vincent DeLise and Joao Pagan.
Mercer would acquit itself well in singles play. David Barton pulled the match even, at 1-1, after he posted a 5-0 win over Brown. Brown was forced to retire early as a result of an injury.
Lipscomb would restore its lead moments later, as Shaw claimed a 6-2, 6-2 win over DeLise at the No. 5 position, but the Bears would even the match with Tafelski's 6-3, 6-2 win over Streeter at the No. 1.
With the match now tied, 2-2, the Bison would go back ahead with Cortez's 6-7, 6-4, 6-2 win over Dias at the No. 6. Lipscomb's Salazar would clinch the win with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 win at the No. 2.
The Mercer tennis teams will return to action next Saturday, as both the men and women head to face arch-rival Kennesaw State. First serve for both matches is set for noon.
Players Mentioned
