Saturday Men’s Tennis results
Ball State 4, Northern Illinois 3
Buffalo 4, Toledo 3
Western Michigan 6, UIC 1
Recaps courtesy of Athletic Communications Departments
Broc Fletcher Clinches Gritty Three-Set Win to Topple NIU | Box Score
MUNCIE, Ind. - The Ball State men's tennis team (8-7, 3-1 MAC) continued its resilient run in Mid-American Conference (MAC) play Saturday, securing a hard-fought 4-3 victory over Northern Illinois University (11-4, 2-1 MAC) at the First Serve Tennis Courts. The win marks the second consecutive 4-3 decision for the Cardinals, following a similarly gritty performance against UIC earlier this week.
The Cardinals fell behind early, dropping the doubles point after the Huskies secured wins on courts one and three. At the time the point was clinched,
Broc Fletcher and
Jacks Lancaster held a 4-3 lead at the No. 2 spot over Chiao Bo Duo Nan and Iker Dellien.
Ball State's singles play opened with a burst of momentum as the Cardinals claimed four opening sets against Northern Illinois. Although the Huskies extended their lead to 2-1 with a victory at No. 2 singles, Zackary Kimelman put Ball State on the board. His gritty, straight-set win at the No. 5 spot earned the Cardinals their first point of the match.
Drew Hayward leveled the match at 2-2 after a gritty performance against NIU's Lorenzo Leti. Battling for every point, Hayward secured the victory at No. 3 singles with a 7-5, 6-4 straight-set win. After that, the Huskies took back a slight 3-2 edge with a win at the No. 4 slot.
The match came down to the final two courts, both of which went to three sets. Lancaster secured the win on the top court, overcoming a 3-4 deficit in the decider to defeat Iker Arrastia Gaztambide, 6-4.
With the match deadlocked at 3-3, everything came down to Fletcher on Court 6. Despite trailing 4-3 in the final set, Fletcher dug deep against NIU's Pratyaksh LNU, rattling off three straight games to win 6-4 and clinch the victory for the Cardinals.
The Ball State men's tennis team will remain home to face conference rival Western Michigan Friday, March 20 at 1 pm ET. The game is scheduled to be played at the Foster Adams Tennis Complex and Bill Richards Tennis Courts, weather permitting.
Resilient Bulls Take Down Toledo | Box Score
BUFFALO, NY – The University at Buffalo men's tennis team (9-4, 3-0 MAC) battled from start to finish as they rallied to a 4-3 victory over Toledo in a thriller at Miller Tennis Center on Saturday afternoon.
Trailing 1-0 after doubles action, senior
Faiz Nasyam got UB on the board with a 6-3, 6-0 win at six singles and
Minjae Kim gave the Bulls a 2-1 lead with a 6-4, 6-4 victory at fourth singles. The Rockets regained the lead with wins at second and fifth singles to go up 3-2.
Junior
Onder Balci rallied to a 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 win at third singles to even the match before
Theodoros Mitsakos came up clutch for the Bulls, overcoming a dropped first set and a 3-1 deficit in the third set, to win 4-6, 6-2, 7-5 to clinch the match.
Up next, Buffalo will hit the road for four matches, beginning on Thursday, March 19 at Northern Illinois.
Western Michigan Def. UIC | Box Score
Recap coming soon...
