WINFIELD – The Kansas Wesleyan women's and men's tennis teams opened their seasons on Friday and Saturday in the KCAC Individual Flighted Tournament at the T.H. Vaughn Tennis Center.
The KCAC Flighted Tournament is played with players in each flight (1 through 6 singles, and 1 through 3 doubles) in a bracket format to determine the flight champion.
In singles in the No. 1 flight, Karley Benson (SR/Salina) started with a loss to Cori Campbell of Oklahoma Wesleyan, then beat Nikolett Krivek from Friends 8-0, before losing to Geanna Richard of Tabor. Benson would claim seventh place with an 8-4 win over Rachel Carlson of Sterling.
In the No. 2 flight, Makenzie Archer (JR/McPherson) got fifth place opening with a loss to Bethel's Fatima Nemi, but then beating Tia Gregory of Bethany 8-1, and Sterling's Nicole Marin 8-5.
In the No. 3 flight, Michaela Crowe (SO/Overland Park) reached the championship match by beating Lilly Wait of Tabor and Priyanshi Sharma of Ottawa 8-5.
In No. 4 singles, Zofia Selwesiuk (SR/Wroclaw, Poland) got third place, beating Tabor's Marisol Blair 8-2, before losing to top seed Vanessa Mundo from McPherson. Selwesiuk then beat Bethel's Jenna Mahoney 8-4 in the third place match.
In No. 5 singles, Alexis Gunn (FR/Overland Park) beat Sterling's Brooklynn Khun 8-4, but then lost to Laura Adey of Southwestern. She would then beat Jordyn Trombley of Bethany before claiming fifth place with an 8-2 win over Tabor's Bethany Yutzy.
In No. 6 singles, Savannah Noel (JR/Portis) lost to Natalie Henning of Sterling 8-6, but then beat Ottawa's Lily Keimig 8-5 before losing to Tara Stewart of Tabor 8-3 in the fifth place match.
In doubles at No. 1, Benson and Crowe lost to Loving and Coe of Southwestern 8-1, but then had to withdraw due to injury.
At No. 2 doubles, Selwesiuk and Archer lost their first match to Sharma and Holland from Ottawa, but came back with wins over Payton and Mahoney of Bethel and Carlson and Comley of Sterling to claim fifth place.
At No. 3 doubles, Noel and Gunn lost to Maples and Maxey of McPherson, but then beat Keimig and Alterman of Ottawa 8-3 and Yutzy and Stewart of Tabor 8-1 to earn fifth place.
Up next for the Coyote women is the ITA Central Regional Tournament in Winfield next weekend.
Men's tennis
In No. 1 singles, Daniel Harkin opened with an 8-4 win over David Moral Tebar of Southwestern, then lost to Jose Catala of Oklahoma Wesleyan 9-7. Harkin would claim third in the flight with a walkover win against Raul Rivero of Bethany.
In No. 2 singles, Bryce Ware reached the championship match where he went to a third set tiebreak against Milan Bucek of Bethel, ultimately losing 6-4, 4-6, 4-10. Ware used wins over Bastian Reichborn of Friends and top-seeded Thomas Zych of McPherson 9-7 to reach the finals.
In No. 3 singles, Wes Robertson lost to Nolan Schrader of Bethel, but then beat Adman Spencer of Oklahoma Wesleyan and Ethan Kutz of Tabor and Franco Iozzo of Friends to claim fifth place in the flight.
In No. 4 singles, Rodrigo Vera beat Gavin Pastine of Bethany 8-0, but then lost to Federico Poi of Southwestern, before bouncing back to beat Kerry Dunn of Friends 9-0, but finished sixth with a loss to Jean Paul Fort of Tabor 8-6 in the fifth place match.
At No. 5 singles, Garrison Wright beat Alejandro Velasco of Tabor 8-3, but lost to Marcelo Mann of Southwestern 8-5, and then ended up in fourth place with an 8-3 loss to Bethel's Joaquin Pluis.
At No. 6 singles, Braeden Lewis beat Jordan Singh of Bethel 8-4, but then lost to Oscar Brouwer of McPherson 8-4, then finished in fourth place with a loss to Oscar Aguilera of Ottawa.
At No. 1 doubles Ware and Alex Sherer finished in fifth place. The duo lost to Millos and Zych of McPherson before rallying with wins over Bethany's Rivero and Hernandez and Friends' Prats and Reichborn.
At No. 2 doubles, Harkin and Vera lost to Hjelm and Graham of Ottawa, but then came back with a win over Pastine and Eckert of Bethany before losing to Fort and Kutz of Tabor in the fifth place match.
At No. 3 doubles, Robertson and Lewis lost to Quinonez and Aguilera of Ottawa, then beat Lee and Redmon of Sterling and earned fifth place with an 8-1 win over Torres and Velasco of Tabor.
Up next for the Coyote men is the ITA Central Regional Tournament in Winfield next weekend.