BOLIVAR, Mo. -- Thursday's tennis Battle of the Bearcats was a split, with the men's match won by SBU, 5-3, while the women's match went to Northwest Missouri, 6-3. SBU got solid outings from both of their top players, with Jolee Cook and Marton Zsiga winning both of their singles and doubles matches. Reigning MIAA Men's Tennis Athlete of the Week Domingos Carissimo also went 2-0.

Northwest took two of three women's doubles matches before SBU rallied with straight set wins by Cook and #2 Johanna Olsson. The pairing at #3 matched the first two MIAA Women's Tennis Athletes of the Week of this season in Faiga Schmidt of SBU and Veronica Castilla of NWMSU, with Castilla winning in straight sets. NWMSU closed out the match with wins at four through six.

The #31 SBU men evened their record at 8-8 with a win over the #26 green Bearcats of Northwest. SBU's top players led the way, with Zsiga, #2 Carissimo and #3 Jorge Margiotta scoring three-set wins. Zsiga handed NWMSU's Malcolm Harrison his first loss of the season in fifteen matches. Zsiga and Carissimo scored SBU's lone win in doubles. #5 Brandon Finerty secured the SBU win with a hard fought three-set victory over Daniel Quesada.

The SBU women will host Fort Hays Friday morning at 9:00 a.m. and then Lincoln at 4:00 p.m. Saturday the SBU men and women host Nebraska-Omaha at 9:00 a.m., with the SBU women closing the action that day with a 2:00 p.m. match with Missouri Western.

WOMEN: #41 Northwest Missouri State University 6, Southwest Baptist University 3
4/1/2010 at Bolivar, Mo.

Singles competition
1. Cook, Jolee (SBU-W) def. Leston,Erika (NWMSU-W) 6-3, 6-4
2. Olsson, Johanna (SBU-W) def. Pendrak,Lisa (NWMSU-W) 6-4, 6-2
3. Castilla,Veronica (NWMSU-W) def. Schmidt, Faiga (SBU-W) 6-3, 7-5
4. Weir,Sureena (NWMSU-W) def. Hendrickson, Jenna (SBU-W) 6-4, 6-2
5. Weideman,Lindsay (NWMSU-W) def. Sentlinger, Sarah (SBU-W) 6-4, 6-0
6. Browning,Brittney (NWMSU-W) def. Janisch, Misti (SBU-W) 6-1, 6-4

Doubles competition
1. Cook, Jolee/Schmidt, Faiga (SBU-W) def. Leston,Erika/Hoffman,Emily (NWMSU-W) 8-4
2. Pendrak,Lisa/Castilla,Veronica (NWMSU-W) def. Olsson, Johanna/Sentlinger, Sarah (SBU-W) 9-7
3. Weir,Sureena/Browning,Brittney (NWMSU-W) def. Hendrickson, Jenna/Guiot, Crystal (SBU-W) 8-5

Match Notes
Northwest Missouri State University 8-6, 2-0 MIAA; National ranking #41
Southwest Baptist University 6-4, 2-2 MIAA


MEN: #31 Southwest Baptist University 5, #26 Northwest Missouri State University 3
4/1/2010 at Bolivar, Mo.

Singles competition
1. Zsiga, Marton (SBU) def. Harrison,Malcolm (NWMSU) 7-6 (7-0), 2-6, 6-4
2. Carissimo, Domingos (SBU) def. Gennari,Felipe (NWMSU) 5-7, 7-5, 7-5
3. Margiotta, Jorge (SBU) def. Sehgal,Vijit (NWMSU) 6-2, 1-6, 6-3
4. Patterson,Calvin (NWMSU) def. Palacios, Jorge (SBU) 7-5, 6-3
5. Finerty, Brandon (SBU) def. Quesada,Daniel (NWMSU) 2-6, 6-1, 6-2
6. Welch, Tyler (SBU) vs. Auricchio,Giovanni (NWMSU) 5-7, 5-5, unfinished

Doubles competition
1. Zsiga, Marton/Carissimo, Domingos (SBU) def. Harrison,Malcolm/Quesada,Daniel (NWMSU) 8-6
2. Sehgal,Vijit/Westerhof,Ryan (NWMSU) def. Margiotta, Jorge/Finerty, Brandon (SBU) 8-5
3. Gennari,Felipe/Patterson,Calvin (NWMSU) def. Palacios, Jorge/Welch, Tyler (SBU) 8-3

Match Notes
Northwest Missouri State University 11-4, 0-1 MIAA; National ranking #26
Southwest Baptist University 8-8, 3-1 MIAA; National ranking #31