Kearney, Neb. – The nationally-ranked Southwest Baptist tennis teams got past Nebraska-Kearney by identical 6-3 scores Friday afternoon in Bolivar, Mo.

The Lopers are regionally-ranked on both sides and were hoping to knock off the longtime MIAA powers. SBU came in ranked 33rd in women's tennis and 35th in the men's poll.

On the men's side, UNK (8-4, 0-2) took a doubles point as freshman Lucas Garces (Spain) and Mohab El Zanaty (Egypt) won 8-5 in the third spot.

The Lopers, ranked seventh in the Central Region, saw its top two doubles teams score five and four points, respectively, but that wasn't enough to topple the top Bearcat (5-3, 2-0) tandems.  

In singles, Garces bounced back from a 6-1 defeat in the first set to win his match in the fifth position (7-5, 10-2). However, English junior Jack Nicholson couldn't due to same one spot lower in the lineup, dropping his third set tie breaker by a 10-5 score.

UNK's other point came when Zanaty, now 17th in the Central, won in straight sets (6-4, 6-4) at No. 3 singles. He is tied with senior Yeswanth Nadella for the team lead in singles wins at 10.

The SBU women (7-2, 2-0) are the top rated team in the Central and they showed why as their No. 1 and No. 2 doubles teams won by identical 8-1 scores.

Freshman Renee Hoekstra (East Lansing, Mich.) and sophomore Paula Jimenez (Spain) did win 8-5 at No. 3 doubles with junior Kari Emery (No. 6) and freshman Emily Fink (No. 4) winning in singles.

Fink (Elkhorn) is now 10-3 after a 6-3, 4-6, 10-4 decision over Lani Tuemmers with Emery (Tucson, Ariz.) improving to 11-1 with a 7-5, 6-2 decision. Finally, Jimenez fell to 13-1 in singles after a 6-2, 6-1 setback to Christina Zentai in the third spot. Zentai is ranked eighth in the Central.

UNK takes on Division I Arkansas-Pine Bluff tomorrow.