Tiger tennis edged at home by Neosho

Lauren Compton returns a volley during doubles play in Nevada's tennis match with Neosho Monday. Neosho beat Nevada on their home court 5-4, as Compton and teammate Megan Stacy lost their doubles match in a tiebreaker, 9-8 (9-7). There were six matches decided by three points or fewer in the contest, and Neosho won five of them.

By Joe Warren

Nevada Daily Mail

It was close but no cigar for the Nevada tennis team Monday as they were nipped by Neosho 5-4 in a match that was every bit as close as the score.

Six matches were decided by three points or less and Neosho won five of them to slip past a Nevada team that appeared to be the more talented of the two.

Two matches needed tiebreakers to decide, both of them involving freshman Megan Stacy, playing in her first varsity match.

Stacy was called up to replace fellow freshman Molly Ferree who was sitting out because of an injury.

Stacy battled during her two matches, first in doubles with teammate Lauren Compton, then in singles in the final match of the evening after the team results had already been decided.

The doubles tiebreaker was won by Neosho, and may have been the turning point in the entire team competition.

Stacy and Compton battled back from an 8-7 deficit to tie the match at eight and send it into the tiebreaker.

During the tiebreaker the team from Nevada went up 3-0 to start, but then lost five consecutive points to go down 5-3.

From there it was uphill as Neosho eventually earned the victory despite four ties in the tiebreaking game.

The win gave Neosho two out of three doubles matches as they also won the number-one doubles match over Meredith Hoberock and Jessica Ferree, 8-6 in another close one.

The other doubles team of Lisa Pendrak and Emily Teepe had no trouble with their opponents, scoring eight consecutive game wins after falling behind 1-0.

Pendrak and Teepe would also dominate their singles matches. Pendrak won 8-0 and Teepe won 8-2, giving Nevada a temporary 3-2 lead in the team score.

Then Hoberock was defeated 8-5, despite leads of 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2.

Compton also lost her singles match 8-5, after battling back from a 3-0 deficit to pull within 5-4.

It came down to two more matches for Nevada, one involving Jessica Ferree and the other involving Stacy.

Ferree came back from a 5-2 deficit to pull within one at 5-4. She exchanged games with her Neosho counterpart twice to make it 7-6.

Ferree was unable to pull off the comeback victory though, and lost 8-6 to end Nevada's chances for a team win.

Stacy was then involved in another tiebreaker, winning this time 9-8 (7-2).

Nevada had beaten Neosho in the two teams' first meeting, winning 8-1 in Neosho.

"It's getting to be a broken record," Nevada coach Dennis Pendrak said, frustrated by the close losses. "We play close, but not close enough."

Neosho, which ended Nevada's run of 10 consecutive conference titles last year, still has a chance to win the conference again.

They still have two matches against Carthage left. Carthage still has not lost in conference play, while Neosho has lost one.

Nevada plays again today in Fort Scott, Kan.