Biola hosted University of Hawaii Hilo on March 26 and hoped to gain some momentum after their match with Arizona Christian University was rained out on March 21. The women’s team started the day off with some close matches but lost 9-0. The men fared better against Hilo but still fell short in the end, falling 8-1.
WOMEN STRUGGLE AGAINST HAWAII
Freshman Madison Swaney won her second set 6-0, but the rest of the Eagles dropped their singles matches without forcing a tiebreak. Sophomores Allison Torres and Tinisee Kandakai fought hard in their matches, putting up sets of 5-7 and 6-7 respectively, but it was not enough for the win.
Unfortunately, the women’s doubles matches followed a similar trend. The duo of sophomore Lauren Lee and freshman Esther Lee held a one-set lead until Hawaii tied it 6-6. Despite some more hard-fought sets to force a 7-7 tie, the Eagles duo lost the deciding set 8-7. Swaney and Kandakai teamed up to keep their doubles match close, coming back to tie at 6-6. However, they could not capitalize and fell to their Hilo counterparts 8-6, resulting in a 9-0 loss overall.
“Our mentality is the thing that trips us up the most,” said freshman Sarah Morgan. “We need to be more positive and believe in the things we have practiced over and over.”
MEN FAIL TO FINISH STRONG
To start off their day the Eagles dropped two of their three doubles matches, losing by scores of 8-4 and 8-3. However, the duo of Lucas Lee and Logan Blair fought to pick up a close 8-6 victory in their doubles match, giving the Eagles their first and only win of the day.
“One thing we are going to focus on is just being strong all the way through,” said senior Micheal Vartuli. “We’ve had a couple matches where we’ve started off hot and then fizzled out.”
The men also struggled in their singles matches, losing four matches in two-set sweeps. Lee and Blair won their first sets 6-2 and 6-0 respectively. However, Lee fell in his second set 6-2, and Blair took the loss 6-1. Both players lost their tiebreak set 10-5 which meant that Hawaii took all six singles match wins. Despite the strong efforts from Lee and Blair, the men ended the day with an 8-1 loss, moving their record to 3-10 on the season.
The women’s team lost all nine of their matches against Hilo, making their record 1-12 on the season. They will look to improve on their record as they host Whitworth University on March 28 while the men will host Pacific Lutheran University on March 27.
