Box Score

SOUTHFIELD, Mich. (1/24/2014) -- A resilient University of Detroit Mercy men's tennis team came from behind to earn its first win of the season as the Titans defeated Duquesne, 4-3, on Friday night in its home opener at the Franklin Athletic Club.

The win moved UDM to 1-3 on the season, while the Dukes – picked fourth in the Atlantic 10 Preseason Poll - lost in their season opener.

"I am so proud of these young men," said head coach Grant Asher. "I have to commend the coaching staff of David DeMuth and Cesar Escobar Serrano as they had great game plans for the guys and kept the Titans focused throughout the match."

The match came down to No. 4 singles as sophomore Rafael Orantes was able to hold off Corey Robinson in come from behind fashion. After dropping the first set 6-3, Orantes won the next 6-2 and with everything all squared away at that point, he was able to win the third set 6-3.

The Titans won four of six singles as aside from the tie-breaking match at No. 4, senior Bobby Cawood came up with a 6-5 (6), 6-2 victory at No. 2 and freshman Patryk Koscielski tallied a 6-5 (5), 6-4, triumph at No. 3. Freshman Ismail Kadyrov was also victorious as he downed his counterpart, 6-1, 6-4, at No. 5.

"They fought so hard and never gave up, which is all a coach can ask for," added Coach Asher. "All I kept hearing the Dukes say was 'they just keep running for every ball' and that made me so happy because that is the attitude I want to instill in this team. We accomplished our objectives last night and took a great step forward with a very young team after losing seven players from last season."

The four singles wins came after Duquesne – who beat Udm last year 5-2 - won all three doubles to take the early 1-0 lead and led 3-0 after claiming No. 6 and No. 1 singles.

"Our objective was a positive energy flow all night, through all the momentum swings. Being down 3-0 and winning 4-3, they did this very well. I want us to be great teammates and support everyone until the end and be feisty and competitive all the way through. This has to be the foundation.  All the X's and O's don't mean much if we can't get this correct, and they did great," said Coach Asher.

Detroit will return to action next Saturday, Feb. 1, as the red, white and blue play a doubleheader at Northern Illinois against the host Huskies and Southern Illinois. UDM will stay Midwest as it also visits Wisconsin-Whitewater on Feb. 2.