SAN DIEGO -- NAIA ninth-ranked Point Loma Nazarene posted a 5-4 upset win against No. 5 Concordia Tuesday evening. Junior
Jessica Kwan picked up the deciding point for the Sea Lions.
PLNU's jumps to 2-1 on the season and is 1-1 in the GSAC. Concordia falls to 3-2 overall and 2-2 in conference.
"The ladies did great today," said head coach Rich Hills. "We've been talking about playing to compete versus playing just to perform and tonight they proved that they are here to compete and ready to win."
Loma started off the GSAC match by winning two of the three doubles points. Court three saw Sea Lions
Wileen Chiu and
Katelyn Abayan easily overcome Eagles Kristin Yep and Ellie Johnson 8-1. The court two pairing of
Jessica Kwan and
Kiersten Steinhauer also won, beating CUI's Summer Beaird and Johanna Sceresini 8-4.
The last doubles point went to Concordia though, when the top team of
Maika Adair and
Sharon Reibstein lost to Eagles Jordan Kimura and Bettina Radke 8-3.
Things really got interesting in singles, though it didn't look that way at first.
PLNU took the first two singles points on courts six and four to take what seemed like an insurmountable 4-1 advantage over the visitors.
Chiu rolled to a 6-2, 6-0 win over Johnson on six for point one while Reibstein took her match against Yep 6-1, 6-2.
The Sea Lions were just one match away from the team triumph, but the final point proved elusive as CUI won the next three completed matches in straight sets.
Eagle Kimura came out on top 6-1, 6-0 over Loma's
Hope Penner on two; Radke beat Adair 6-2, 6-3 on one, and Beaird defeated Steinhauer 7-6, 6-4 on five.
It came down to Kwan and Sceresini on court three. Kwan took the first set 6-3 and was up 5-2 in the second when Sceresini rolled off three straight games to even the match at 5-5. Kwan managed to break the streak and pulled out two games to end the set and match and give PLNU its deciding point.
"It was hard being the last teammate on the court," said Kwan. "The match definitely changes when all eyes are on you but it was a good chance for me to get used to playing under pressure. Today's win was a great confidence booster for our team since we weren't expected to win."
The next match for the Sea Lions is at home against Grand Canyon University, Thursday at 4:00 pm.
#9 Point Loma Nazarene 5, #5 Concordia (CA) 4
02/21/12 at San Diego, CA (PLNU Courts)
|
Singles competition |
|
1. RADKE, Bettina (CUI) def. ADAIR, Maika (PLNU) 6-2, 6-3 |
|
2. KIMURA, Jordan (CUI) def. PENNER, Hope (PLNU) 6-1, 6-0 |
|
3. KWAN, Jessica (PLNU) def. SCERESINI, Johanna (CUI) 6-3, 7-5 |
|
4. REIBSTEIN, Sharon (PLNU) def. YEP, Kristin (CUI) 6-1, 6-2 |
|
5. BEAIRD, Summer (CUI) def. STEINHAUER, Kiersten (PLNU) 7-6, 6-4 |
|
6. CHIU, Wileen (PLNU) def. JOHNSON, Ellie (CUI) 6-2, 6-0 |
|
Doubles competition |
|
1. RADKE, Bettina/KIMURA, Jordan (CUI) def. ADAIR, Maika/REIBSTEIN, Sharon (PLNU) 8-3 |
|
2. KWAN, Jessica/STEINHAUER, Kiersten (PLNU) def. SCERESINI, Johanna/BEAIRD, Summer (CUI) 8-4 |
|
3. ABAYAN, Katelyn/CHIU, Wileen (PLNU) def. JOHNSON, Ellie/YEP, Kristin (CUI) 8-1 |
|
Match Notes |
|
Concordia (CA) 3-2, 2-2 GSAC; National ranking #5 |
|
Point Loma Nazarene 2-1, 1-1 GSAC; National ranking #9 |
|
Order of finish: Doubles (3,2,1); Singles (6,4,2,1,5,3) |
