Lady Buffs play hard at regional tournament

Milligan College, Tenn. (Apr. 6, 2008) --- The Lady Buffs made their first appearance in years in the NAIA Region XII Tennis Tournament today at the Mathes Tennis Center on the Milligan College campus. They faced Kentucky-Indiana Athletic Conference's perennial powerhouse Indiana University Southeast. IUS defeated the Lady Buffs by a score of 5-1.

Milligan's only point came with a victory by Melissa Grgat (Melbourne, Australia) in the number one singles slot. She defeated Julian Becher 6-3, 6-2. Caitlin Conley ( Bristol, Tenn.) fought hard but lost in a tough 3-set match to Nikki Cannon, 6-4, 5-7,6-3. Sara Hopson (Greeneville, Tenn.) and Janie Mullins (Greenville, Ala.) had won the first set in both their singles matches when IUS clinched the win scoring their fifth point in the Conley-Cannon singles match.

“Coach Bill Ryall at IUS always fields a strong team. We've played them many times in years past and his girls are strong competitors and always exhibit great sportsmanship. The Lady Buffs had a great season finishing second in the AAC. We've come a long way with a young team. I'm very proud of their efforts this year. We've laid solid building blocks for the program to grow on in the years to come,” commented coach Ron Worrell.

The final round is to be played at Milligan on Saturday, May 3, 2008 at 8 a.m.