04/25/08
The Baker tennis season came to an end at the Heart of America Athletic Conference Tournament over the weekend, as well as the college careers of the five seniors on the team.
“We had very small teams, but we had a solid core of good players,” coach Rick Walsh said.
The men’s team made it through the first round as a fourth seed by beating the fifth seed Missouri Valley College 5-2, but then fell to the No. 1 seed Graceland University 5-0 in the semifinals.
Baker won two of the three doubles matches against Missouri Valley with senior Michael Angarita and freshman Bozo Zaputovic winning in the No. 1 doubles match and junior Hunter Hollarn and sophomore Ricky Palm winning the No. 2 match. Angarita and Zaputovic also won their singles matches.
The Graceland match stopped after five matches were finished because at the conference tournament once a team secures the match, the match is over and games still in progress stop as well. The tennis teams usually play a match with nine games, three doubles matches and six singles matches.
“This season the guys were very close,” Palm said. “We developed a level of companionship that was special.”
The women’s team was the fifth seed going into the tournament and faced the fourth seed Lindenwood University, which it first faced April 14. The Wildcats lost 5-3, winning two doubles matches and one singles match before Lindenwood won the match. Seniors Jamie Lawrenz and Melissa Shank won their doubles match along with freshmen Allie Stephens and Molly Flanigan, who won their doubles match 8-0. Flanigan also won her singles match.
Sophomore Taylor Bonar said there were trials, but she looks back on them as a learning experience to take the good with the bad.
Walsh said the doubles win by Lawrenz and Shank was their best win of the season. They had lost their doubles match against Lindenwood the last time they played.
Baker will lose Angarita, who was the only senior and the team’s captain.
“Michael is a very special player,” Palm said. “It is a big loss, and he will be missed.”
The women’s team will lose four of its seven players, including Lawrenz, Shank, Kelsey Stephens and Courtney Struble.
Walsh is bringing in four freshmen from the Kansas City and Topeka areas next year and also a transfer from Independence Community College.
“Everyone brought something different, and they are going to be missed a lot,” Bonar said.
Most of the off-season work will be individual, with players continuing to practice over the summer.
After a few days off, the team will have meetings and then hold a team dinner in the next couple of weeks.
Walsh is also putting together a summer conditioning program for the athletes who will be returning next year.