Box Score (Truman 9, Fort Hays 0)
KIRKSVILLE, Mo. – The Truman women's tennis secured the sixth spot and sent a pair of seniors out with wins as the Bulldogs defeated Fort Hays State by a 9-0 score in the regular season finale. The team will await on tie breakers to see who they will face in the upcoming MIAA Tennis Championships next weekend at the Plaza in Kansas City.
Senior Amy Ochs and Ellen Russell defeated the Tigers top double team of Melissa Skovira and Brianna Watking 8-3. Senior Kelsey Kuykendall and Dagmar Velez were 8-1 winners at number two and Maggi Schutte and Lauren Higgins completed the doubles sweep with an 8-5 victory at number three.
Kuykendall won her sixth straight match, four of them coming in the top singles spot, with a dominating 6-0, 6-1 performance. Kuykendall will finish third all-time in Truman women's tennis history as she picked up her 86th singles win. She will not catch second place Jessica McKinney, who has 95 singles wins.
Ochs is just outside the top 10 all-time in singles win as she picked up her 77th in her Truman career. With two more wins at the MIAA Tournament, Ochs could tie Marilee Boullear, Christy Nicoll and Kelli Brady, who each have 79 wins. Ochs won in three sets over Skovira, 6-2, 2-6, 6-2.
The underclassmen also all had straight set wins as Russell won 6-2, 6-2 at number three, Velez picked up a 6-2, 6-2 win at number four, Schutte scored a 6-0, 7-5 win at number five and Jennifer Hawkins rounded out the match with a 6-2, 6-4 win at number six.
The Bulldogs finish 8-7 during the regular season and 3-5 in the conference. They will await the application of tie breaking procedures and will either face Southwest Baptist, Northwest Missouri or Nebraska-Omaha in the first round of the conference championships on Thursday.
