Women’s Tennis Goes Down 4-3 to Boise State

U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. – Air Force Women's Tennis worked up a 3-1 lead on Sunday afternoon over 14-5 Boise State, but ultimately ended up stalling late, as the Falcons fell 4-3 at Cadet Gym.

Air Force earned its fifth-straight doubles point and sixth in seven matches, scoring set wins on courts two and one in order. Alexis Odom/Maya Michalski struck first, taking an early lead over 9-6 Bronco duo Ryan Kershner/Lorelyz Marruffo. Odom/Michalski built up as much as a 4-1 lead in the set, before closing out line two with a 6-3 win. Minutes following the court two victory, junior Arianna Van Houweling and sophomore Nadia Kojonroj closed out 11-3 Zdena Safarova/Maya Dutta, 6-4, powering past a 4-all deadlock late in the set to clinch a 1-0 Air Force lead.

Boise reset the score to even, as Safarova scored a 6-2, 6-2 win over Odom on court one. On line two, Van Houweling picked up four-straight games on the way to a 6-2 opening set over 12-3 Maya Dutta, before putting her opponent away in a 7-3 tiebreak second-set victory, improving to 11-6 on the season.

Mavor picked up Air Force's third and final point of the day, taking down Marruffo on court five. Mavor trailed Marruffo 4-3 in her opening set, before notching three-consecutive games to take a 6-4 win, then dominated in the second set, putting Marruffo away 6-1.

With a 3-1 lead in hand, the Falcons trailed on all three remaining courts and were unable to clear the hurdle to clinch. Selvan, facing Ariadna Briones Ginesta on line five, dropped a narrow 7-5 first set then fell 6-3 in the second. Kojonroj split her opening two sets on court three against Shah then gave up a 6-1 third set to tie Boise State once again with Air Force at 3-all. Michalski fell 6-3 in her first set to Paula Schaefer then scored a 6-3 set win of her own in the second, but went down 6-1 to clinch Schaefer's fourth-straight win and a Boise State victory.

Thoughts from head coach Taylor Hollander:

"It was a hard-fought match. I'm really impressed with Arianna and Sofia—they took care of business against tough opponents. We came out strong by taking the doubles point and had the momentum early, but credit to Boise State—they wanted it more when it came down to the wire."

Up Next:
Air Force Women's Tennis closes regular season competition on Thursday, Apr. 17 hosting Wyoming at 5 p.m. Prior to first serve, Air Force Athletics will honor C1C Alexis Odom for Senior Day, as Odom prepares to commission into the United States Air Force.

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