Biola women’s tennis picked up their third win on the year with a tight 5-4 victory over Pacific Lutheran University on Saturday, further eclipsing their total of one win from last year. The women followed it up with a close 5-4 loss to Golden State Athletic Conference foe Hope International University with the men also falling 7-2 on Tuesday.
Sophomore Lauren Vogel took home the clinching match against PLU in the No. 5 singles to close out the match and give Biola the victory.
At the start of the match the Eagles opened with a doubles match No. 1 win from freshmen Kathryn Ashford and Susan Carmichael as the duo took down their PLU opponents 8-4. That proved to be the only success Biola would have in doubles, as they fell in the next two to the Lutes.
Both teams traded matches, but PLU expanded to a 4-2 lead, putting them on the brink of victory. The Eagles’ rally began as Carmichael grabbed a clutch win at No. 4 singles 6-4, 6-2. Fellow freshman Olivia Koelsch won the first set of her No. 3 singles match, but fell behind in the second set 3-2. Koelsch surged from there, taking four of the next five sets to take the match 6-3, 6-4 and even the overall match at 4-4.
This is where Vogel came in, in what turned out to be the most thrilling match of the day. She took a narrow first set, but fell in set number two, forcing a third set to decide the match. Vogel fought off two match points, down 5-4, but rallied to win the next three games and take the match 7-5.
"It was an incredible feeling, being the match that determines the whole thing is really intense, there’s a lot of pressure," Vogel said. "I was so excited to be able to win that for the team. All the girls worked so hard and it was so rewarding to see my efforts pay off."
Against Hope the women struggled through singles play with a 4-2 deficit, but the match got interesting in the doubles matches with the Eagles taking the first two. In the third it was down to Vogel again, this time teamed up with freshman Patricia Ling to decide Biola’s fate. The match was neck-and-neck and tied at 7 apiece, but the Royals had enough left in the tank to pull out the 9-7 doubles No. 3 victory and a 5-4 overall win.
In the men’s match the Eagles struggled throughout with senior David Mossman being Biola’s lone charge as he won his singles No. 1 match 6-2, 6-1. The rest of the team struggled as they were unable to come out on top in any of the other singles matches.
In doubles play, Mossman joined forces with Isaiah Pekary and the tandem dialed in to an 8-4 victory. But just as the singles matches went south, so did the doubles and the Eagles failed to come out on top the rest of the day, leading to the 7-2 defeat.
The women move their record to 3-14 overall and 1-9 in conference play, with the men standing at 2-11 and 1-9.
This concluded GSAC play for both teams, who will now wait until April 12-13 to take on their conference rivals again at the GSAC Tournament in Indian Wells.
