The 2009 tennis season got off to a rough start over the weekend as Alabama A&M dropped a pair of matches at Lipscomb. Both teams were shutout 7-0 in their season openers, however, coach Thomas Colvin saw plenty of bright spots in the early-season matchup.

WOMEN'S WRAP - Lipscomb 7, Alabama A&M 0
The last time that the Lady Bulldogs lost the first match of the year to the Lady Bisons of Lipscomb was in 2007.  That year, the ladies of A&M won the SWAC.  While this could be a very solid year, that’s the only comparison that can be made between the 2007 and the 2009 squads.

Traveling with only 5 players, the Lady Bulldogs knew that in order to compete for the win, they would have to play exceptional tennis throughout the lineup against what has come to be, a very solid Lipscomb team.
In doubles, it was a tale of 2 halves as the #1 and #2 doubles teams seemed to exchange personalities during their matches.  The #1 team of Me’Shala Johnson and Brittany Jelks started very slow; quite the contrast to the start of the #2 team of Yemurai Muskwe and Te’Isha Mixon.  The Muskwe/Mixon doubles team played long points in the beginning and at one point were in the match at 2-3; however, they weren’t able to sustain the play and fell 2-8.

The Johnson/Jelks team who lost 1-8, did the exact opposite, losing early games rather decisively, but took many of the later games into deuce.

The Lady Bulldogs, down 0-2 starting singles, got a strong performance from Johnson, the lone senior.  She was able to Lipscomb’s Jann off-balance in claiming a 6-3 first-set win.  Jann would regroup and get out to a quick 5-0 lead in the second  before winning the second set 6-2.  The 3rd set tiebreak and that point went to Lipscomb 10-4.
Freshman Mixon wasn’t able to pull out a win in her first collegiate match, falling 2-6, 2-6 to Jackson.

With the match being clinched, the other ladies pro-set scores were: Jelks lost 2-8; freshman Jasmine Cherry fell in a hard-fought match 4-8; and Muskwe dropped her match at #5 1-8.

“The scores don’t really reflect it, but I saw some good things,” commented ladies coach Thomas Colvin.  “There just weren’t enough of them.  At least we’ve got something to start with in working towards being better.”

The Lady Bulldogs travel to Montgomery on January 31 to face the Lady Hornets of Alabama State.

MEN'S WRAP - Lipscomb 7, Alabama A&M 0
The Lipscomb men’s team has always been competitive and a difficult first opponent for Bulldogs each year that they have met.  This year was no different as the Bulldogs once again traveled to the Whitworth Tennis Center for the renewal of the annual meeting.

The Bisons got the lead early in doubles, winning both #1 and #2 doubles by 8-0 scores and never looked back, en route to a 7-0 win.

“They are a solid team with strong players top to bottom,” coach Thomas Colvin said.  “We did some good things, but just not enough of them.  I think our decision making was pretty good, just not the execution.”

Colvin made note of the play of junior Stevon Walker and freshman Evan Brown.

“Stevon played a lot of very good points, eventhough the score won’t reflect it.  We came up with a plan and he stuck to it and made it count when he could.  Evan played well in spurts and got some valuable experience in this match.  He’s got a lot of room to get better.”

The Bulldogs will travel to Montgomery on January 31 to face the Hornets of Alabama State.