On Oct 1, the Tigers Women’s tennis team won their first game in the fall season at home against Saint Mary University. After losing the first two games of the fall season by the minimum (4-3), the women’s team achieved a huge win. So, the current overall is 1-2 for the Tigers.
The Spires won two of the three doubles matches to take the early lead in the match. The only victory was in the 1-doubles game. Sophomore Maria Purizaca and freshman Liz Calderon won 7-5 in a competitive game. The teammates showed great confidence and match management to take a difficult victory. In the crucial doubles match, which went to three doubles, Saint Mary prevailed 7-6 (7-4) in a tie-break.
At No. 1 singles, Purizaca defeated her opponent 6-3, 6-1 to earn Doane’s first point of the day and achieved her 25th career victory. At singles two, more victories followed suit with a great game by Calderon, winning 6-2 and 6-0. The successive victory was in singles number four, where junior Grace Schroller won 6-2, 3-6, 1-0 (10-6), with a competitive game that ended with an awesome tie-break. Senior Cierra Schwarzkopf won the singles five with a 6-2, 6-1 result. The final winning match was the six singles, with Sophomore Kat Johnson playing a great game and finishing 6-2, 6-3.
On Oct. 5 the Tigers traveled to Hastings to compete in the Hastings Invite. Going into flight A was Purizaca, where she made it to the finals round where she ended with scores 6-1 and 6-2. Along with Purizaca was Calderon, where she won her match against Iyaanah Pardivalla of Saint Mary’s, however in her match against Baker’s Dayna Steadman was a loss.
Going into flight B, the Tigers had Schroller where she too made it to the finals round with her scores being 6-2 and 6-4. Along with Schroller was Castillero who lost her round to Saint Mary’s Miranda Swanson.
Going into flight C was Johnson, who made it to the finals round with scores being 6-4 and 6-1. And finishing it up for the Tigers was Schwarzkopf who lost her round to Hastings Lexi Benson with the score being 8-2.
Transitioning into the Doubles matches, the Tigers had Purizaca and Calderon who had three matches all against Hastings with scores being 8-0, 8-1, 6-2, and 6-3. For the second team of doubles it was Schroller and Castillero who lost their one round against Hastings with the score being 8-5, and finishing up for the Tigers was Schwarzkopf and Johnson who also lost against Hastings with their score being 8-6.
On Oct 1, the Tigers Men’s tennis team lost their second game at home against Saint Mary University in the fall season. Saint Mary improved to 1-0 in dual competition in the fall season, but the Tigers fell to 1-1 overall.
The game started with Saint Mary winning all three doubles matches, earning the doubles point. In the most competitive match, senior Jose Purizaca and junior Diego Infante lost 7-6 (7-4) in a tie-break at 1-doubles. The two started strong but failed to deliver a win.
At one singles, Purizaca defeated his opponent 6-4, 6-4 to earn Doane’s only victory of the day. Having won in singles play for the thirty-second time. He moved up to ninth place on the dual victories list.
Doane failed to secure wins in subsequent singles, with junior Diego Infante losing 4-6, 2-6. Senior Andre Hartman losing 2-6, 1-6, sophomore Elliot Dassel losing 3-6, 5-7, sophomore Julio Avila losing 5-7, 3-6 and freshman Christian Jensen losing 4-6, 2-6. Saint Mary’s strong play stifled the Doane rackets and prevented them from securing scoring.
On Oct. 5, the Men’s team also traveled to Hastings to compete in the Hastings Invite, where going into fight A of singles was Purizaca who made it to the finals round against Bakers Juan Avila with scores being 6-2 and 6-4.
Also in flight A was Infante who had two matches but lost against Juan Avila as well with the score being 8-6. And finishing it up in this flight was Hartman who also lost against Juan Avila with the score also being 8-6.
In Flight B, Dassel made it to the finals round after competing against his teammates Adams (8-0), Avila (8-5) and Jensen (6-0, 6-2). With this Avila had two matches however lost to Dassel with the score being 8-5. Jensen also made it to the finals, which resulted in him listing against Dassel as well. Adams had two matches but also lost to Dassel with the score being 8-0/ And finishing up for this flight was Jones who lost his first match against Hastings Conner George with the score being 8-0.
Transitioning into the Doubles portion, the Tigers first team was Purizaca/Infante who made it to finals against Baker’s Avila and Flaska with scores being 6-0 and 7-5. The second team was Hartman/Dassel who competed in two matches however lost to Bakers Avila and Flaska with the score being 8-1.
Also losing to Avila and Flaska was Avila/Jensen who had their score being 8-3. And finishing up for the Tigers was Adams/Jones after losing to Bakers Nelson/Foster with the score being 8-1.
With this, both Men’s and Women’s tennis have ended their fall season with them picking back up in February of 2025.
