Nevada tennis handles T.J.

By Joe Warren

Nevada Daily Mail

The Nevada Lady Tigers evened their team record at 1-1 this season with a 6-3 road win at Thomas Jefferson Thursday.

The Lady Tigers got four wins in six singles tennis matches, then took two out of three in doubles play to get the team victory.

"We won the close ones this time," Nevada head coach Dennis Pendrak said. "It was a good win for us."

The Lady Tigers had dropped most of the close matches in their season opener, falling 7-2 in Joplin Aug. 25.

Thursday was a different story as Lisa Pendrak started off play with a closer than expected 8-6 win over Mari Prigmore in number-one singles play.

Lisa Pendrak struggled at times with Prigmore but was able to use overpowering volleys and an occasionally dominating serve to grind out the win.

In number-two singles it was Thomas Jefferson evening the score as Meg Prigmore defeated Nevada's Emily Teepe 8-3.

In number-three singles it was a hard-fought tiebreaker that gave Nevada an edge in momentum that they would carry throughout the remainder of play. Lauren Compton snuck by Kristina Kory 9-8 (7-5) to give Nevada the upper hand and it was an advantage they would not relinquish the rest of the way.

"That was probably the turning point, Compton's singles match," Coach Pendrak said.

Pendrak praised his number-three player for stepping up her game when it counted.

"Lauren Compton was more aggressive running the court (than previously)," Pendrak said.

Molly Ferree beat Thomas Jefferson's Martha Falls 8-5 in number-four singles. Then freshman Whitley del Rosario won convincingly over Jazmin Lee 8-1 to give Nevada their fourth win in singles play.

The sixth match between Sara Newton and Nevada's Megan Stacey was another close battle that Thomas Jefferson was able to collect as Stacey lost 9-7.

In doubles play it was the team of Prigmore and Prigmore beating Pendrak and Teepe to close the gap in the team score. Pendrak and Teepe lost 8-3, and that brought Thomas Jefferson within 4-3 in the team battle.

However, the team of Compton and Ferree clinched the team victory by winning their doubles match over Kory and Newton 8-1.

In the final doubles match of the day it was Stacey and del Rosario beating Falls and Lee 8-5.

Pendrak said the improvement by his team from the first match was not seen physically.

"It was more of a mental transformation," he said.