Middle Tennessee men’s tennis (19-8) split a Friday doubleheader, dropping the first match 4-3 to No. 68 Memphis (12-11, 1-1 AAC), followed by defeating Bellarmine University (5-14) 7-0 in the second match at the Outdoor Tennis Complex.
Memphis
No. 48 Middle Tennessee men’s tennis dropped its ranked contest on senior day to No. 68 Memphis, 4-3, dropping three courts in the final set.
The Blue Raiders were unable to secure the doubles point, with Birtan Duran and Jonasz Dziopak falling 6-4 to Memphis’ Obrad Markovski and Marko Milosalvjevic.
Ondrej Horak and Antoine Mayoral defeated Sam Reeve and Rensing Lasse 7-5 to tie the doubles courts at one a piece. Karim Al-Amin and Eric Crivei dropped the decisive doubles point 7-6 to Memphis’ Maxime Dubouch and Moritz Kudernatsch.
“They [Memphis] played well,” MTSU head coach Jimmy Borendame said. “I thought there was some moments where we could’ve done better, we learn from it and get ready for the next one.”
In singles competition, Crivei secured the first point for the Blue Raiders, defeating Memphis’ Marcos Fabra Castro 6-1, 6-0, extending his winning streak to five matches.
Freddy Murray fell 6-1, 6-0 against Milosalvjevic on court six, the Blue Raiders trailing two courts to one.
Horak fought tooth and nail with Kudernatsch, splitting the first two sets 6-0, 6-3, before taking the third set 6-0, knotting the score at two apiece.
“I was in my head on the first set,” Horak said. “I knew I had to reset my mindset, I changed my game a little bit, I was risking on my first set but it paid off.”
Duran fell 6-4, 7-6 against Leandro Zgraggen, with two courts remaining.
The Blue Raiders notched their third singles point with Dziopak defeating Markovski, splitting the first two sets 6-4, 6-0, before Dziopak won 7-6 in the third set tiebreaker due to a poor sportsmanship violation from Memphis.
The decisive court saw Al-Amin and Dubouch split the first two sets 7-6, 7-6, before Al-Amin fell short in the third set 6-3, giving the Tigers the 4-3 victory.
Bellarmine
The Blue Raiders secured the doubles point in the second game, with Dziopak and Crivei defeating Ryan Parkins and Eli Wood 6-2, quickly followed by Horak and Mayoral defeating Colby Berson and Matthew Nice 6-2.
Just like the Memphis game, Crivei secured the first singles point for the Blue Raiders, taking down Alex English 6-0, 6-1.
The Blue Raiders secured the remaining five singles points, with Murray defeating Berson 6-0, 6-2, and Al-Amin defeating Nice 6-3, 6-3 to secure the victory for the Blue Raiders with three courts remaining. Mayoral then beat Zak Vince 6-3, 6-2, followed by Duran taking down Wood 7-5, 6-3, and Dziopak defeating Parkins 6-4, 6-3.
“The goal is to make the Sweet 16,” Horak said about the impending conference tournament. “It’s not gonna be easy, we still gotta work hard for it.”
The Blue Raiders’ regular season comes to a close, and they’ll look ahead to the Conference USA tournament, which will be hosted in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, from April 17-19.
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