Kearney, Neb. – MIAA Freshman of the Year Fabiana Gamboa rallied for a three-set win at four singles to help 15th-ranked Nebraska-Kearney get past 20th-ranked Northwest Missouri State, 4-3, in an NCAA Central Region #1 second round match Saturday evening at Harmon Park.
The Lopers (20-5) reach the “Sweet 16” for the fourth time in program history and for the first time in 12 years. Now 8-11 all-time in the NCAA’s, they’ll play May 20 (Monday) at Sanlando Park in Altamonte Springs, Fla. The bracket will be seeded and announced early next week.
Things didn’t look good for UNK for most of the day as they lost the doubles point and dropped the first set at four, five and six singles to the Bearcats (22-5). However, the Lopers were up at one, two and three singles to provide a path to victory. Junior Narindra Ranaivo (Madagascar) got the Lopers on the board with a straight set win at three (-3,-0) with senior Melisa Becerra (Colombia) doing the same at two (-2,-4).
“After doubles, you look at the match ups on paper and we knew our path to victory was winning at one, two, three and four singles. That was the clearest path,” said Loper head coach Scott Shafer. “But it didn’t look good. Alexis (Bernthal) and Tanya (Midzi) couldn’t get anything going but Jazmin and Fabiana just didn’t quit.”
Northwest claimed straight set wins at five and six with Carolina Oliveira winning the second set at one against senior Jazmin Zamorano (Mexico). At the same time, Gamboa (Venezeula) rebounded from a 6-0 loss to beat Laura Prieto Sieiro 6-4 in the second set. She was down 4-3 but tallied the final three points to keep herself and the team alive.
“I felt like our home crowd helped us and, in the end, they just embraced the moment and pushed through it,” said Shafer. “This is a hard sport because you have to deal with all these emotions and all these things swirling inside your head about what we have to do to win. It’s testament to them because they believe in each other.”
Both Zamorano’s and Gamboa’s third sets started at roughly the same time with Zamorano jumping out to leads of 3-1 and 4-2. While things tightened up a bit, she recorded career singles win number 72 as she tallied the final point at 40-30 (6-3).
“For our two seniors, what more can you ask for. We didn’t know we were going to have another home match (after Missouri Western on April 13). We arranged the court how the players like them and made sure Jazmin was there, Melisa was there. Things keep falling into place and I’m so happy for them.”
That made it 3-3 on the scoreboard with Gamboa leading 3-2 but then falling behind 5-4. With NW just four points away from victory, Gamboa won nearly a three-minute rally at 40-30 to make it five all. She then scored four of the next five points to make it 6-5 and then Sieiro fought off 15-0 and 30-15 deficits to tie things up once more. After another two-minute rally, a shot went wide, and UNK stormed the court.
“Fabiana played her (Sieiro) two weeks ago and won in three sets. On the (40-30 point at 5-4), I was standing far away because Jazmin had just finished and I don’t like to just appear and break someone’s concentration,” said Shafer. “I was just hoping for the best.”
Both Becerra and Ranaivo have 54 combined wins this year (including the fall individual season), breaking the record held by Paula Jimenez (53) set during the 2014-15 campaign. The pair are 29-4 in doubles and ranked 31st nationally. The doubles tally ties Jimenez’s record, also set in 2014-15.
UNK previously made the “Sweet 16” in 2009, 2010 and 2012. They lost 5-0 to national powers Barry, Fla. (2010) and BYU-Hawaii (2012) but fell by a 5-4 score to Concordia (N.Y.) in 2009.
“It’s been our year, we’ve stayed healthy, and we’ve had some luck on our side. How do we continue to get through these matches … I don’t know,” said Shafer. “It’s all gravy now. We get to go to Florida, and I don’t care who we play.”
