ORLANDO, Fla. – The Otterbein women's tennis team goes a 6-1 on its annual spring trip, including two sweeps. The Cardinals now own an impressive 8-2 record on the year, which is the best start in three years.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
SUNDAY – PENN STATE BERKS (W, 9-0)
MONDAY – ST. FRANCIS (ILL.) (W, 6-3) & CARTHAGE (W, 8-1)
- Otterbein was able to prevail over a short-handed St. Francis team by earning three victories due to forfeit. The Cardinals were still able to claim three of a possible six victories in the played matches. Traxler also earned her first victory from the second singles position.
- The Cardinals defeated Carthage in a competitive match, as Otterbein swept through the double matches. Sydney Bergman and Sutter won 8-5 in the first doubles, Briones and Traxler won 8-4 and Kristen Zink / Madison Mueller finished off the sweep with an 8-4 win.
WEDNESDAY – TRINE (W, 7-2) & SUNY ONEONTA (W, 7-2)
- Zink earned her third straight victory by winning 6-0, 6-0 versus Delaney Keirn. Bergman dropped her first match of the trip, but showed a ton of fight and battled back to win the second set before falling in the tiebreaker set.
- Mueller had to deal with pressure against Camille Lozier but came away victorious 6-4, 6-4, as Megan Stuteville cruised to a 6-1, 6-2 victory from the sixth single slot.
- Against SUNY Oneonta, Bergman had her best outing by winning (6-0, 6-0) in the first single spot and 8-5 in doubles with Sutter.
- Mueller put together the most interesting match of the afternoon. The sophomore dropped the first set 6-0 but responded in set number two by winning 6-2, the tiebreaker went in favor of the opposition at a final of 14-12.
THURSDAY – MIDWAY (W, 9-0)
- The Cardinals continued their winning ways by earning all the possible points against Midway, as each player had at least one convincing set win in their singles match.
- Bergman once again led Otterbein from the first single slot with a 6-1, 6-0 victory against Annette Tran.
FRIDAY – MARY (L, 6-1)
- Against Division II opponent Mary, the Cardinals were unable to go perfect for the entire spring trip. The teams followed the DII scoring format of only seven points, as each single is worth one point and the doubles worth one point for whichever team wins two of the three matches.
- The duo of Yates and Zink were able to come away with a 6-2 win in the third doubles slot, but Mary won the first and second doubles to earn the point.
- Stuteville earned the lone Cardinal point with a win against Kali Askvig with a score of 7-6, 6-2.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORES:
- Otterbein defeated Penn State Berks 9-0 for the second-straight year, as Bergman, Briones, and Stuteville all recorded victories both times.
- Zink went 5-1 in singles and 3-0 in third doubles in her inaugural tennis season. Megan Yates claimed her first singles victory of the season against St. Francis (Ill.)
- Every single member of the roster earned at least one victory in either singles or doubles, as Briones went 5-0 in third singles.
- This is the best start to the season since the 2015-16 year where the team began the year 13-1 and finished the season 18-4 before bowing out in the Ohio Athletic Conference Championship match against John Carroll.
UP NEXT:
The Cardinals will have the next two weeks off to rest, then return to the courts by hosting Mount Union in their first conference match of the season on March 23 at 1 p.m.
