Jackrabbits struggle in Summit Cluster

Zach Anderson

Zach Anderson

The SDSU women’s tennis team played five matches in the second Summit League Cluster of the year in Macomb, Ill. The Jacks fell to Western Illinois and Oakland on April 17. They defeated Centenary and lost to Oral Roberts on April 18. April 19 saw a loss to UMKC.

Western Illinois 4, SDSU 0

Against Western Illinois, SDSU’s Bryna Nasenbeny was leading WIU’s Amanda Griffin 1-6, 6-3, 5-2 but did not finish in first singles action.

Nasenbeny won two more matches over the weekend, claiming victories against both Oakland and Centenary.

“Bryna didn’t just get victories against those teams, she was pulled off the court when leading in the third set 5-2 against Western Illinois,” SDSU head coach Don Hanson said. “It was a cheap action by Western, but it was within the rules, but not many coaches would have done it, so she really won three as far as I’m concerned.”

Second singles went Western Illinois’s way as Zi Wang defeated Katie Elifson, 6-1, 6-0.

WIU’s Kim Lennartsson was leading SDSU’s Caitlin Brannen 3-0 but did not finish in third singles action.

Fourth singles was also called short, with Stephanie Baumer leading SDSU’s Nellie Bloomberg 6-0.

In fifth singles action, WIU’s Kate Kennedy defeated the Jack’s Carrie Jansen, 6-3, 6-2.

To finish out singles action, Yana Meinert defeated SDSU’s Megan McDougall 6-4, 6-1.

The doubles matches were swept by the Leathernecks; the team of Griffin and Wang defeated the SDSU team of Nasenbeny and Brannen 8-2 in first doubles.

Bloomberg and Jansen lost 8-4 to the WIU team of Kennedy and Lennartsson in second doubles.

Third doubles saw Meinert and Baumer defeat the Jack’s McDougall and Bethany Goeden 8-2.

Oakland 6, SDSU 1

Nasenbeny got the only Jackrabbit victory of the match, as she defeated Oakland’s Lindsay Grimmer 6-3, 6-4 in first singles action.

The second through six singles matches were swept by Oakland, as Amanda Scheer defeated Elifson 6-3, 6-0 in second singles.

Third singles saw Oakland’s Karen Karoub defeat the Jacks’ Caitlin Brannen, 6-2, 6-1.

Oakland would continue to roll in fourth singles as Caitlin Young defeated SDSU’s Nellie Bloomberg 6-1 in straight sets.

Fifth singles saw SDSU’s Carrie Jansen fall to Oakland’s Michelle Maxfield 6-1, 6-0.

In sixth singles action, OU’s Jackie Dinicu defeated SDSU’s Megan McDougall 6-1, 6-2.

The doubles action was not much kinder to SDSU, as Oakland won all three matches. The first doubles match saw the Oakland team of Grimmer and Karoub defeat the SDSU team of Nasenbeny and Brannen 8-2. In second doubles, Maxfield teamed up with Gabrielle Gogas to beat the team of Bloomberg and Jansen 8-2. SDSU’s McDougall and Bethany Goeden fell 8-2 to the Oakland team of Scheer and Young.

SDSU 4, Centenary 0

SDSU dominated Centenary from the start, as Bryna Nasenbeny needed a tiebreaker set to defeat Centenary’s Courtney Myers 6-0, 5-7, 1-0.

Brannen, Jansen and Bloomberg each won their singles matches 6-0, 6-0 to seal the 4-0 victory for the Jacks. Brannen defeated Kate Buchanan, Jansen defeated Stephanie Canady and Bloomberg defeated Arielle Schulman.

Oral Roberts 4, SDSU 0

Against Oral Roberts, SDSU lost the third through six singles matches to fall 4-0 to ORU.

In third singles, Tayler Pippin defeated Brannen 6-2, 6-1. Fourth singles saw Ana Costa defeat the Jacks’ Bloomberg 6-0, 6-1.

Fifth singles action was won by ORU’s Corrine Langston 6-2, 6-4 over Jansen.

The sixth singles match was another victory for ORU, as Taylor Wade defeated McDougall 6-1, 6-3.

The first and second singles matches between SDSU’s Nasenbeny and ORU’s Hayden Rush; and Jack’s Katie Elifson versus ORU’s Rafaela Souza did not finish.

UMKC 4, SDSU 0

SDSU struggled from the start, as UMKC swept the one through four singles matches and claimed the match.

In first singles, Emily Lindsay defeated Nasenbeny 6-1, 6-0.

UMKC’s Katherine Rist defeated SDSU’s Katie Elifson 6-2, 6-0 in second singles action.

SDSU’s Brannen fell to UMKC’s Chelsea Horner 6-2, 6-0 in third singles.

Jillian Yakominich defeated Bloomberg 6-0, 6-1 in the fourth singles match.

Fifth singles action did not finish, but SDSU’s Jansen was leading UMKC’s Jessica Ball 2-0.

The sixth singles match between McDougall and Holly Davis was not played.

“The team’s performance was wonderful, and we are competitive against all teams in the Summit League,” Hanson said. “The scores don’t indicate the closeness of a lot of those matches, but it helps to point the way to where we need to be. We are very young with four freshmen, one sophomore and two juniors. We had a great season, and all the players are looking forward to next year with a lot of confidence in their improvement.”

The Jacks will finish off their season on May 3 when they host Alumni Day at Hillcrest Park in Brookings. Play starts at noon.