🎾 Paz Diaz and Mendez win tiebreaks again, Tigers come up short of Jets

FHSU Athletics

HAYS, Kan. – Just like a day prior, Fort Hays State fell 5-2 to its opponent and Maria Paz Diaz and Fiorella Mendez won singles matches in tiebreaks. This time the Tigers fell short of Newman in conference action even though they put up a strong fight in singles play trying to battle back from a 1-0 deficit after doubles.

Despite the Jets earning a team point early in doubles, the No. 1 FHSU team of Irina Alfonso and Maria Paz Diaz handled their opponents convincingly with a 6-1 win. The other two Tiger doubles teams each fell by scores of 6-3.

Newman was able to clinch the match in singles play by winning at the No. 3, 4, and 6 positions with straight-set wins. But, the Tigers battled in each of those matches. Nicole Heyn won five games in her No. 3 match, Aliyah Frederick won six games in her No. 6 match, and Kylie Aufdengarten won seven games in her No. 4 match.

Since the clinching team point had not been decided when Irina Alfonso forced a third set at the No. 1 position, she and her opponent had to play out an entire third set. After she dropped the first set 6-1, Alfonso rallied for a 7-5 win in the second set. However, Dana Issabayeva went on to win that third set 6-0.

Since Newman clinched the team win moments after Alfonso began her third set at the No. 1 position, any other matches going to a third set would play a 10-point tiebreak game to determine a winner. That turned out to be the case for Fiorella Mendez at the No. 5 position and Maria Paz Diaz at the No. 2 position. And like the day prior against Emporia State, both came out on top in their tiebreaks.

Mendez had an early lead in her match by winning the first set 6-4, but then fell 7-5 in the second set. She turned the momentum back around in her favor and won the tiebreaking game 10-5. Paz Diaz came out on top in the tightest match of the day. She prevailed in the first set 7-6 by winning a tiebreak game to seven, fell 7-5 in the second set, but then bounced back for a 10-5 win in the third-set tiebreak game.

Heidi Lubbers played an exhibition singles match aside from the team competition and won 8-0 over Lauren Esfeld.

The Tigers head back on the road next week to Central Oklahoma and Northeastern State for another pair of MIAA matches (Apr. 14-15).