Box Score ST. LOUIS - Hitting the road for its first away match in a month, No. 17 William Woods University (12-7, 4-0 Heart of America Athletic Conference) earned a tight 4-3 triumph against Heart archrival (RV) Missouri Baptist University (12-6, 2-1) Wednesday at Dwight Davis Tennis Center.
"Huge fight today, the guys came out strong in the doubles and carried the energy into singles," William Woods tennis coach
Abigail Lemberger Hughes said. "My freshman Thomas showed huge grit to claim the clinch for us, after being down 3-6 in a tiebreak, in the third and final set. He came back to win 8-6 and grab the final set 7-6. Unbelievable fight and big conference win for us."
The Owls breezed to the doubles point, taking the first two matchups: WWU's
Aoi Ooka and
Jesper Seger won 6-1 over MBU's Strahinja Radanovic and Arkhip Tokmakov at the two line, and
Thomas Geukemeijer and
Cole Horton beat Lucas Kzam and Filip Petrovic 6-1 at the three.
The Spartans took the final doubles contest as the Owls'
Noah Burton and
Robbie Schorr fell in a 7-6 tiebreaker to Luca Ebenriter and Sebastian Junghanns at the top position.
Burton, ranked 37th in the latest ITA NAIA men's tennis singles rankings, turned around and increased Woods' lead to 2-0 by defeating Ebenriter, slotted 58th in the national rankings, 6-1, 6-1 at the one slot.
In another nationally ranked matchup, No. 47 Horton lost 6-3, 6-0 to No. 65 Radanovic at the two-line, making it 2-1 WWU.
Aoi Ooka brought the Owls back in front by two points (3-1), earning a 6-3 first-set victory before it was tied at 5 in the second set, and the Spartans' Junghanns had to retire from the No. 3 singles contest. Then, Geukemeijer battled point for point in his four-line matchup with Kzam, ultimately coming out on top 4-6, 6-2, 7-6 to secure William Woods' team win. Schorr picked up WWU's final triumph, beating Nicolas Sanchez 7-6, 6-1 at the six spot.
Missouri Baptist took the final matchup as Seger dropped a close 5-7, 6-3, 6-3 decision to Tokmakov at the five.
William Woods plays its second match in as many days, concluding the regular season by hosting NCAA Division II Southwest Baptist University (6-7) at 11 a.m. Thursday at Suzannne Neal Memorial Tennis Complex in Fulton.
