CU women wrap up MSC season with dominant 6-1 win
HENDERSON — Cumberland’s women swarmed the Freed-Hardeman Lions in their Mid-South Conference tennis finale Wednesday, winning 6-1.
Building up to one of the Phoenix's most dominant wins of the season, both pairings of Valentina Mendez and Madeleine Darud, as well as Lara Zugasti and Kaede Hatano, swept their opponents in doubles play and didn't allow the Lions a single game. Already having won the doubles point, Emillia Nowak and Juanita Mendez put the icing on the cake and won 6-1 at one doubles.
That dominance carried into singles with straight set victories on five of the six singles courts. Lara Zugasti was the figurehead for Cumberland today, taking her opponent down 6-0, 6-0 at six singles, as she didn't concede a single game to the Lions all day.
Valentina Mendez was nearly as strong on court two, winning her first set 6-0, but her opponent was able to hold serve once, seeing the Colombian win 6-1 in her second set. Next up, both Asya Tilsim Timur on court one and Madeleine Darud on court five won with just two games conceded, 6-1, 6-1.
The most competitive match of the day that went the Phoenix's way was on court four, where Ame Van Eijk took down Hannah Pierce by a score of 6-3, 6-3. Van Eijk trailed at 2-3 in both sets, but came back to win 6-3 on both occasions.
Dropping just one match all day, the Lions got the best of Kaede Hatano on court three, taking a three-set victory over the senior. Hatano was down 4-1 in her first set and fought all the way back to 6-4, though she would win her second set in a tiebreak, 7-6 (7-4). Rather than playing a full third set, her match would be decided by a ten-point tiebreak, where FHU won 10-8, ensuring they didn't get swept on the day.
After a non-conference visit from Wallace State on April 26, Cumberland will await seeding and placement in the MSC tournament.
Men end season with 6-1 win at Freed-Hardeman
HENDERSON — Cumberland’s men wrapped up their regular season Wednesday with their second win in as many days, taking down the Freed-Hardeman Lions 6-1.
The Phoenix started off their day strong with a point from the doubles action, though it would not be a clean sweep. Paul-Daniel Meyer and Daniel Wessels took the first win of doubles with a 6-2 defeat of the Lions, but Vitor Ferreira and Julian Parada would fall on court two.
In quick succession though, the Phoenix responded with a 6-2 win on court one as Elisey Kalashnikov and Gabriel Godoy grabbed the point for CU.
Cumberland struck quickly in singles play, winning three singles matches as well as the overall match within an hour. Gabriel Godoy made it 2-0 for the Phoenix as the Brazilian took the first set 6-2 and his opponent was forced to retire with the second set at 2-0.
Just a minute later, Paul-Daniel Meyer wrapped up his match on court four with a sweep over his opponent. Winning his first set 6-2, Meyer made even quicker work of the second, 6-1. Sealing the match for Cumberland was his doubles partner, Daniel Wessels.
Wessels took just five more minutes to grab the pivotal fourth point for the away side, taking down the Lions number one by a score of 6-1, 6-3. Freed did strike back though, taking down Hassan Ammar on court three, knocking off the Egyptian 6-3, 6-1.
Getting Cumberland back in the win column, Vitor Ferreira won a tight match on court two, 6-4, 7-5. Like Wessels and Meyer, Ferreira's doubles partner also grabbed a win, this one being the final nail in the Lion's coffin.
Julian Parada has had the most three-set matches of any Phoenix this season but made certain to get his win in straight sets this time around, winning with the same score as Ferreira, 6-4, 7-5.
The Phoenix will now await their seeding and match placement for next week's Mid-South Conference tournament.
