Tennis splits at MIAA tournament

The Emporia State tennis teams had their conference tournament this weekend in Topeka.

The women played a marathon match to open the tournament, and the men had a breakthrough win of their own when they defeated Truman State.

The women played the Lady Blues of Washburn University in the opening round. WU took wins at the first and sixth position singles with 6-2, 6-1 wins at both positions for a 4-1 lead. ESU came back with a 7-5, 6-2 win by Natalie Villaflor and a 6-3, 7-5 win by Audrey Sherman. A 6-2, 5-7, 6-0 win by Amanda Morris at the third position evened the score at 4-4 before WU's Allie Gardner prevailed 6-7, 6-2, 7-5 to seal the win for the Lady Blues. The Hornets match lasted nearly five and a half hours.

The Hornets played Northwest Missouri State in their consolation match on Saturday. The Hornets easily defeated the Bearcats 5-1. Emporia was leading 4-0 before Natalie Villaflor retired before her singles match.

The men’s victory over Truman State was their first victory over a conference opponent in more than five years. The Hornet’s last victory was against Missouri-Rolla on April 19, 2003.

Kevin Schoon clinched his team’s victory with a 7-5, 4-6, 6-4 win at the fourth singles position.

Following the Hornet’s breakthrough victory, the #24 Washburn Ichabods defeated the Hornets 5-0. Due to the weather, the consolation matches on Sunday were cancelled, leaving just the championship matches to be played.