Tennis recovers from shaky season with 3 wins
Develon Isom
Issue date: 3/3/10 Section: Sports
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With a 5-4 win over No. 50 ranked Mesa State College on Saturday, the Red Storm have recovered from a shaky season start by winning three of the last four matches, and leveled its record against ranked opponents to 2-2. The Storm also beat Academy of Art's Urban Knights 6-3 on Friday, and lost to Southern Utah University 5-4 on Wednesday.
The Storm's victory over ranked Mesa State consisted of three singles wins by No. 3 position Ashley Lafeen, No. 5 position Courtney Kezerian and No. 6 position Lauren Tarver. Senior team captain Lafeen, a communication major from Murray, beat Mesa's Victoria Sargent 6-2, 6-0. Lafeen is playing in the midst of a four match-winning streak and has won seven of her last eight contests. In those eight matches, Lafeen has only lost one set.
Freshman Kezerian, a communication major from Orem, swept all three of her matches as well. She beat Mesa's Amber Armanderez 6-1, 6-0. Academy of Art's Ana Ritchie tested Kezerian but lost 7-5, 6-3 to the DSC freshman. Kezerian beat SUU's Kristi Latteier 6-3, 6-0. For the season, Kezerian's singles record is 8-3 at the No. 5 position. Kezerian said her match with Ritchie was a challenge.
"It was rough because she sent everything back that I hit," Kezerian said. "[The match] was so long, but I started to hit my shots."
Junior Tarver, an integrated studies major from Wrightwood, Calif., went 3-0 in her singles matches last week. She came out on top of a good battle with Mesa's Cyndle Curfman 6-0, 7-6 (10). Tarver handily beat Academy of Art's Cecia Hedin 6-1, 6-0 and was engaged in a tight match with SUU's Sarah Alamshaw 7-5, 2-1, before Alamshaw retired. Tarver has started well this season with a 7-2 record while playing at the No. 6 position for the Storm.
"Our team has definitely improved from last season," Tarver said. "I'm really excited about what we can do this season."
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