BELLEVILLE, Ill. - After winning one of three doubles matches against a highly-skilled McKendree Bearcats team, the Missouri Baptist women's tennis squad came just one tiebreak set short of the victory on Friday.

The Spartans converged on Kingspoint Racquet and Tennis Club in Belleville, Ill. and nearly recorded its first victory of the season. The match began with the duo of Niki Riddle and Elise Beckenmeier dropping a hotly contested doubles match against the McKendree number one team of Emily Cimarolli and Mary Geiger, 8-5.

After McKendree's number two-team picked up its second victory over MBU's Megan Brendel and Alexia Cortez, it was the number-three MBU team that put the Spartans on the board. Kristen Roberta and Nicole Zevlever posted eight quick points, beating the Bearcats Alexandra Peach and Melanie Young, 8-1.

As singles play began, the Spartans found themselves in a good position to knock-off McKendree. Missouri Baptist's Zevlever, Cortez and Sheena Payton swept the four through six matches, leaving the team one singles match away from the win.

The Bearcats took the top two singles matches, leaving it all up to Brendel. After losing the first set 3-6, Brendel recovered quickly. The senior from St. Louis fought hard against McKendree's Mary Geiger, winning the second set 7-5 to force a tiebreak set. Though Brendel placed several perfect shots, Geiger was just as good, defeating Brendel in exhilarating fashion, 10-4.

Missouri Baptist fell to 0-2 on the young season, but played at an extremely high level against one of the best teams they will see this year. The Spartans will be back in action at the beginning of March when the team will travel to Principia to face the Panthers.