Steven Evans, Campus Carrier Sports Editor
The Vikings tennis team opened up their season with a 9-0 victory over the Covenant College Scots this Tuesday, but have since suffered a seven-game losing streak that was eventually broken by their most recent win against the Emmanuel College Lions 5-4.
With the road win over Emmanuel, the Vikings now hold a 2-7 record nearly at the halfway point in the season.
“We have played some of the best teams in the nation over the past several games,” number one singles player, sophomore Logan Yerby, said. “We knew Emmanuel was no pushover, especially in their top positions, but we also knew we could win.”
In their 5-4 victory against Emmanuel, the Vikings claimed victory in three of the six singles matches, and two of the three doubles matches.
Yerby was defeated in straight sets of 6-1 and 6-2. Number two singles player freshman, Seth Taylor, won his first set 6-3, but fell 6-4 and 6-0 in the following sets to lose his match. Number three singles player, freshman Austinn Miller, also took his match to three sets, but was finally defeated with scores of 0-6, 6-2 and 3-6.
The Vikings, down 0-3 overall for the match, turned the match around by securing victories in the next three singles positions.
Number four singles player, senior Ben Ortman, earned victory in his match after three sets, defeating Emmanuel’s Carl Brown across three sets. Ortman won the first set 6-3 before losing the second 4-6. Ortman finally closed out the match by winning the final set 6-2.
“Ben [Ortman] won it for us” Yerby said. “It was really great to know that we have a team that can come through and pull out wins for us. The 5-4 finish was a tough one, but Ben was the last singles player playing and he kept us in it.”
Number five singles player, freshman Michael Tucker, and number six singles player, sophomore Jake Pullen, each won their matches in straight sets, with scores of 6-1, 6-3 and 6-0, 6-0 respectively to tie the overall match score at 3-3.
“It was so good to win another match,” Pullen said. “We went through a tough stretch playing some really great teams, and Emmanuel was a tough team. We just got out there and played our part so that we can win, and we did that. I knew it would be tough so I just went in with the mindset to win every point possible.”
The number one doubles combination of Yerby and Taylor lost their match with a score of 5-8, but the number two doubles team of Miller and Ortman pulled an 8-2 win to keep the overall match score at 4-4.
For the final match, Pullen teamed up with senior Kyle Stapleton to win the deciding doubles match with a score of 9-7, earning the Vikings the win.
The Lady Vikings tennis team defeated the Emmanuel College Lions women’s team in a 9-0 shutout victory, improving their record to 6-3.
Number one singles player, senior Jenn Tinnell, won her match in straight sets with scores of 6-2 and 6-1.
Every singles position on the team with the exception of number two and four singles won their matches in straight sets.
The number two and number four singles positions, held by sophomores Emma O’Reilly and Kaleigh Carpenter respectively, each won their matches in three sets. O’Reilly won her match with set scores of 6-0, 6-7, and 6-0. Carpenter won her match after falling in the first set with a score of 5-7 and rallying to win her next two sets with scores of 6-2 and 10-7.
For doubles, the team of Tinnell and O’Reilly won their match 8-2, the doubles team of number three singles player, junior Caitlin Smith, and Carpenter won their match 8-3 and finally freshman number five singles player Heidi Seabaugh and senior Lib Lockett teamed up to win their match 8-1.
Once all the doubles matches had ended, the Lady Vikings had secured the 9-0 shutout of the Lions.
Both the Vikings and Lady Vikings will be back in action on Monday at Covenant College. Previously, both teams blanked Covenant with scores of 9-0 each.