Dan Sherman
Asst. SID
Junaita College
814-641-3513
SALISBURY, Md., The Juniata College men's and women's tennis teams opened up their seasons in a dual match at Salisbury this weekend, taking on host Salisbury and Bridgewater. The Gulls are currently ranked 9th in the Atlantic South region, while the Eagles of Bridgewater are 18th.
Women
The women faced off against Salisbury Friday night, losing 8-1. Samantha Hendricks (McVeytown, PA / Mifflin County) defeated her opponent 6-4, 6-2 in the sixth singles match to earn the Eagles loan win.
On Saturday, the women picked up wins against Bridgewater. The women won their two and three doubles matches. Heather Warring (San Antonio, TX / John Jay) lost her singles match to tie the score at 3-3. "Heather played close with a tough opponent, but fell to tie the team score. Mitsuki Koh (CupertIno, CA / Monta Vista) and Hendricks proceeded to win their singles matches, clinching the win. Cara Stough (Friendsville, MD / Northern Garrett) then defeated her opponent 6-1, 7-6(1).
Men
The men's team competed against Salisbury on Saturday morning. They were also defeated 8-1 by the Gulls. Sho Sato (Shiga, Japan / Kensai Gaidai University) and Logan Moore (Chadds Ford, PA / Unionville) battled through a tough doubles match, to pick-up a win. "Logan and Sho had a great start at two doubles going up 7-4, but SU came back to tie it at 7-7 after saving four match points", said coach Jason Cohen. "Then 8/7 goes to deuce then Sho and Logan hit two clean return winners to win the match. Bryan played a close three set match", he added.
Later in the day the men fell 3-6 to the Eagles. The team lost its first and second doubles matches, but won the third 8-3. Moore and Mike Lifshitz (Worcester, MA / Worcester Academy) were the only two to win their singles matches. "Dean Polisena (Adelaide, Australia / Saint Ignatius) battled against a regionally ranked singles player to fall 7-5 in the third to make it 1-5." Polisena was the Landmark Conference rookie and player of the year last season.
