PORTSMOUTH, Ohio -- In the final matches of the fall for the men's and women's tennis programs at Shawnee State, true freshman Kathryn Nelson won her first career contest at No. 3 singles for the Shawnee State women's tennis program, defeating Hanover (Ind.)'s Jenny Powless to lead the Bears in SSU's final tennis matches of the fall semester, which were held at the Daehler Tennis Courts in Portsmouth Saturday afternoon.
Nelson, who dropped the opening set by a 6-3 count to Powless, rebounded with a vengance in the second and third sets of play as the freshman played the best collegiate tennis of her young career, pulling out a 6-4 win over Powless in the second set and taking a 10-6 decision over the Illinois native in the tiebreaker to win her match at the No. 3 slot.

Despite falling in the additional matches of the day, Shawnee State enjoyed competitive showings in its remaining affairs -- as Marissa Justice dropped her match at No. 2 singles to Hanover's Madelyn Santner but took four games in both sets before ultimately falling by a 6-4, 6-4 count. Along with Justice, fellow Minford High School graduate and No. 1 singles player Miranda Johnson took five games from Hanover's top singles hand of Annamarie Stogsdill before dropping a 6-3, 6-2 decision.

The doubles squads of Johnson and Justice, along with Nelson and Maggie-Mae Clark, combined to win three games in doubles play at the No. 1 and No. 2 positions, respectively.
In men's tennis action, Shawnee State's top tennis talent, Daniel Cristobal, led the Bears as the Cancun, Mexico product took Hanover's top singles talent, Sebastian Vogel, to the brink before falling, 7-6 (6), 7-5 in a highly competitive matchup at No. 1 singles. Cristobal, along with his doubles partner, Shawnee State freshman Landon Smith, took two games from Vogel and Lucas Silveira at the No. 1 doubles spot as well.

Cristobal, along with fellow senior Zinedine Arva Purbo, were each honored before Saturday's matches as well for their efforts as the Bears' lone seniors. The duo hold GPAs of 3.65 and 3.47 respectively and have over 120 and 110 hours of academic credit, respectively, in business management and information security.