In what was likely the closest and longest battle against any opponent of the 2011-12 season for the Malone University women's tennis team, the Pioneers came up just short in a grueling 5-4 home loss to Roberts Wesleyan (NY) College at the Harvard Courts in Canton on Friday evening. The Pioneers' regular-season finale was originally scheduled for Saturday morning but was moved up to Friday night due to rain in the forecast for Saturday.
Alanna Phillips, at #2 singles, and
Julianna Blaisdell, at #5 singles, were the two winners for the Pioneers in singles play while the #2 doubles team of
Kaley Kahoun and Blaisdell and the #3 doubles unit of
Marie Konstan and
Katie Brim earned the Malone victories in doubles play.
In a match that went right down to the wire, three of Malone's losses in the match came by extremely close scores of 9-8 (at #1 doubles), 5-7, 6-7 (at #1 singles) and 5-7, 7-5, 0-1 (at #4 singles).
Scores for the match were as follows:
Singles:
Malone RWC Winner Score
1.
Kim Knisley Dina Obukhova RWC 7-5, 7-6
2.
Alanna Phillips Maria Jimenez MU 7-6, 6-7, 1-0
3.
Kaley Kahoun Meg Kelly RWC 6-3, 6-1
4.
Marie Konstan Kaitlynn Zaffuto RWC 7-5, 5-7, 1-0
5.
Julianna Blaisdell Kaylee Eamer MU 6-1, 6-1
6.
Hannah Swiger Julia Vitale RWC 6-4, 6-3
Doubles:
Malone RWC Winner Score
1. Knisley/Phillips Obukhova/Jimenez RWC 9-8
2. Kahoun/Blaisdell Kelly/Zaffuto MU 8-5
3. Konstan/Brim Eamer/J. Vitale MU 8-4
Malone will compete in the Ohio Independent Championships tournament, hosted by Cedarville University, next Thursday and Friday (April 16-27).
