
Mirte Van Baelen chases down a ball against Northern Arizona on Friday afternoon.
Photo by: Jack Murrey
Cats Fall to Jacks
4/1/2022 4:17:00 PM | Women's Tennis
MSU received its lone victory as Mirte Van Baelen rallied being down 4-1 and 5-2 in the third set against Laura Duhl to record a 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(5) win at No. 2 singles. In the third set tiebreaker, Van Baelen fought back from 4-2 and 5-3 deficits, before rattling off four unanswered points for the win.
Northern Arizona captured the opening doubles point and took five of six singles matches en route to a 6-1 decision over Montana State on Friday afternoon in the Bobcat-Anderson Tennis Center.
Montana State (5-14, 2-4) dropped doubles decisions at Nos. 1 and 3 as Northern Arizona (6-7, 4-1) took the first point of the match.
The Bobcats, who won the doubles point against Weber State last Sunday, were equally as competitive against the Lumberjacks, before coming up short.
"We made a change in our doubles teams' line-up," said MSU head coach Jon Reeves. "These were teams we played earlier in the year, and today you could see some pairings that are more comfortable together, and it's a line-up we'll look at again. I wasn't upset with our doubles play at all. I was pretty darn happy with it. We had some opportunities."
Northern Arizona went up 3-0 opening singles play with wins at Nos. 1 and 4 on the ladder. At the top spot, reigning Big Sky Conference MVP and Freshman of the Year Gina Dittmann held off MSU's Marta Garcia-Reboredo 6-2, 2-6, 6-1.
"Dittman's been top 25 in the country, and you just don't see those players every day," Reeves said. "Dittman came out on fire in the first set, and we knew we had to keep balls out of her strike zone. Marta did an incredible job with that and played well in the second set. But as so often can happen, she lost that flow between two and three."
Trailing 4-0, MSU received its lone victory as Mirte Van Baelen rallied being down 4-1 and 5-2 in the third set against Laura Duhl to record a 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(5) win at No. 2 singles. In the third set tiebreaker, Van Baelen fought back from 4-2 and 5-3 deficits, before rattling off four unanswered points for the win.
"Mirte played an incredibly mentally challenging game against one of NAU's top players who was battling an injury, and who was doing some creative things to earn points," Reeves said. "Competing against someone in those circumstances is a completely different animal, and Mirte handled it very well."
Northern Arizona closed out the match with straight set victories at Nos. 5 and 6.
MSU travels to Idaho State on April 8, before returning home to close out the regular season against Sacramento State on Sunday, April 10 in the BATC.
Northern Arizona 6, Montana State 1
Singles:
Montana State (5-14, 2-4) dropped doubles decisions at Nos. 1 and 3 as Northern Arizona (6-7, 4-1) took the first point of the match.
The Bobcats, who won the doubles point against Weber State last Sunday, were equally as competitive against the Lumberjacks, before coming up short.
"We made a change in our doubles teams' line-up," said MSU head coach Jon Reeves. "These were teams we played earlier in the year, and today you could see some pairings that are more comfortable together, and it's a line-up we'll look at again. I wasn't upset with our doubles play at all. I was pretty darn happy with it. We had some opportunities."
Northern Arizona went up 3-0 opening singles play with wins at Nos. 1 and 4 on the ladder. At the top spot, reigning Big Sky Conference MVP and Freshman of the Year Gina Dittmann held off MSU's Marta Garcia-Reboredo 6-2, 2-6, 6-1.
"Dittman's been top 25 in the country, and you just don't see those players every day," Reeves said. "Dittman came out on fire in the first set, and we knew we had to keep balls out of her strike zone. Marta did an incredible job with that and played well in the second set. But as so often can happen, she lost that flow between two and three."
Trailing 4-0, MSU received its lone victory as Mirte Van Baelen rallied being down 4-1 and 5-2 in the third set against Laura Duhl to record a 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(5) win at No. 2 singles. In the third set tiebreaker, Van Baelen fought back from 4-2 and 5-3 deficits, before rattling off four unanswered points for the win.
"Mirte played an incredibly mentally challenging game against one of NAU's top players who was battling an injury, and who was doing some creative things to earn points," Reeves said. "Competing against someone in those circumstances is a completely different animal, and Mirte handled it very well."
Northern Arizona closed out the match with straight set victories at Nos. 5 and 6.
MSU travels to Idaho State on April 8, before returning home to close out the regular season against Sacramento State on Sunday, April 10 in the BATC.
Northern Arizona 6, Montana State 1
Singles:
- Gina Dittman (NAU) def. Marta Garcia-Reboredo, 6-2, 2-6, 6-1
- Mirte Van Baelen (MSU) def. Mimi Bland, 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(5)
- Sofia Markova (NAU) def. Jazmin Lerman, 6-4, 6-3
- Elinor Beazley (NAU) def. Maria Villarejo, 6-4, 6-3
- Laura Duhl (NAU) def. Andrea Cuquerella, 6-3, 6-2
- Ava Neyestani (NAU) def. JJ Chen, 6-0, 6-4
- Bland/Annabel Davis (NAU) def. Reboredo/Van Baelen, 6-3
- Lerman/Villarejo (MSU) v. Markova/Duhl, 4-3 unfinished
- Dittmann/Neyestani (NAU) def. Chen/Cuquerella, 6-4
Team Stats
#1 Doubles Match
#2 Doubles Match
#3 Doubles Match
Order of Finish:
1,3
Order of Finish:
4,1,3,2,5,6
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