FHSU Athletics
ST. JOSEPH, Mo. – Fort Hays State Tennis battled to its first win in MIAA play since the 2017-18 season on Saturday with a thrilling 4-3 victory over Missouri Western. The win snapped the long 47-match drought in conference play, lifting the Tigers to 10-3 overall and 1-1 in the MIAA. The Griffons fell to 3-5 overall and 0-1 in the MIAA.
Fort Hays State's last win in MIAA play was on March 13, 2018 by a score of 5-4 over Emporia State. The streak ended just over two weeks past seven calendar years. The Tigers were already knocking at the door on Friday in a competitive loss to a perennially solid Northwest Missouri State team, but they finally broke through on Saturday when Irina Alfonso went toe-to-toe Johanna Priedite in an epic singles match that lasted about three hours. With the team score knotted at 3-3, Alfonso forced a third set in her singles match and went on to win, snapping a six-match losing streak to the Griffons. FHSU's last win over MWSU was in 2017 by a score of 5-4 in Hays. It was their first win in St. Joseph since 2014.
Aside from Alfonso being the ultimate ender of the Tigers' losing string in conference play, five other Tigers picked up big wins to get FHSU and Alfonso to the winner-take-all scenario in the No. 2 singles match.
The Tigers grabbed the first team point of the day by winning two of the three doubles matches. Yone Pereiro and Ines Latorre breezed to a 6-1 win at the No. 3 position, while Alfonso and Suzana Faucz won the No. 2 match 6-4 to give the Tigers a 1-0 lead overall.
The Tigers were on the brink of victory through the first three singles matches completed. Grace Unruh made it 2-0 Tigers with a strong 6-0, 6-2 win at No. 6. The Griffons took the No. 1 singles match 6-2, 6-1, but the FHSU lead reached 3-1 when Bethan Gill posted a 6-0, 7-6 (7-2) win at No. 5. The Griffons knotted the match up eventually winning the No. 3 and No. 4 matches, which required a whole third set be played out instead of the tiebreaker format often used.
After falling 7-5 in the first set, Alfonso stood her ground by winning the second set 6-3. She then went on to break her opponent's serve for the final point of a 6-4 third-set win.F
Fort Hays State will take on William Jewell on Sunday (Mar. 30) in a non-conference road match in Liberty, Mo.