Northwest tennis splits up for matches

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Northwest men’s and women’s tennis defended their homecourt over the weekend by defeating multiple opponents. Those weekend wins carried over into the squads’ meeting with Emporia State Senior Day April 4. Both teams will also look to carry momentum into their upcoming road trips.

Senior No. 2 singles player Michael Delebois, who is also ranked No. 41 nationally, said it feels very nice to have gotten a win on Senior Day.

“That’s good, getting a win for my teammates,” Delebois said. “It’s a special day for them. We’re gonna all celebrate and have some speeches and stuff like that.”

The men defeated two ranked teams over the weekend, including a 4-3 victory over No. 9 Ouachita Baptist April 2 in Maryville. The win bumped the Bearcats (11-5, 6-0 MIAA/Great American Conference) win streak up to four, and the ’Cats used it to catapult them to a 4-0 win over Emporia State April 4 in Maryville.

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two matchups between the two. Senior No. 1 singles player Vera Alenicheva — ranked No. 48 nationally — said both teams are different this season.

“They’ve got some good girls there, so it should be a good match,” Alenicheva said. “We’re going to compete as hard as we can, and we’ll do everything we can to get this match down because it’s an important conference and regional match. We just have to get through it like we did before and keep our heads up.”

Coach Mark Rosewell said the Bearcats have faced adversity this season, but they keep pushing forward regardless.

“Stay away from injuries we were missing two girls and a guy today — the No. 1 and No. 2 girls — so if we get healthy, I think we can be really dangerous,” Rosewell said after Northwest’s match with Emporia.

Next, the No. 12 Bearcat men will travel 247 miles April 6 to Fulton, Missouri, to clash with No. 5 William Woods. The ’Cats and Owls have only clashed two times since 2019, and each team has won once.

The most recent installment of the series went in favor of Northwest 5-2 April 20 in St. Joseph. The last time the match was played in Fulton, the Owls took the match 5-4 April 19, 2019.

“They’re NAIA, so maybe not as important as a Division II match but still very important, and they’re a Missouri school, so that’s going to be a good match,” Rosewell said.

The Bearcat men are 5-1 on the road this season, but the Owls boast a 6-0 record at home. Delebois said William Woods is an important matchup because the Owls are a tough opponent.

“It has always been tough to play against them in their home,” Delebois said. “I think because they’ve been playing every single day and those courts are a little bit faster than ours. So, they have a little bit of an advantage in that they’re used to that, but we feel confident with all the wins that we’ve been getting at the moment. I think that is just going to be in our favor.”

The Bearcat women (14-3, 5-0 MIAA) had a similar weekend to men’s tennis, as the Bearcats took down Southern Arkansas March 31 and Newman April 1 in Maryville. Those wins, including their Senior Day, 5-0 win over Emporia brought their win streak up to eight.

The women will be hitting the road, but, unlike the men, they will be traveling nearly six hours to play MIAA foe Northeastern State April 7 in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. The Bearcats have defeated the RiverHawks in the last

While the men won’t compete again until their match with Indianapolis April 14, the women will stay on the road in Oklahoma for a clash with another MIAA opponent, Central Oklahoma April 8 in Edmond, Oklahoma.

The Bearcats haven’t defeated the Bronchos since April 29, 2016, in Springfield, Missouri, but Northwest’s last win in Edmond came almost a year before that April 4, 2015.

“We’re very confident now that we can defeat them, and I hope that this confidence will help us get over the past defeats,” Alenicheva said. “We just have to compete, play as hard as we can and do everything to win this match and finally defeat them. Me, as a senior, it’s going to mean so much, so we’re all going to give 120%.”