Results vs. Ball State (PDF) I
Results vs. Michigan State (PDF)EAST LANSING, Mich. (1/30/16) – The University of Detroit Mercy men's tennis team dropped a pair to Ball State University and Michigan State University on Saturday afternoon from the MSU Indoor Tennis Facility.
The Titans (1-4) suffered a 5-2 defeat in the opener to the Cardinals (2-1), before falling to the Spartans (4-2) in the nightcap, also by a 5-2 score.
Detroit started strong in the opener versus Ball State as doubles wins by
Chance Conley and
Griffin Mertz and
Rafael Orantes and
Ismail Kadyrov gave the Titans the early 1-0 advantage.
Kadyrov gave the Titans a 2-0 lead with a 6-3, 6-2 victory from the sixth position, but the Cardinals swept the remaining singles matches to record the win.
Junior
Patryk Koscielski and sophomore
Nathan Ponton had strong showings from the top rtwo positions. The pair each won the first sets before the Cardinals fought back and eventually took the points in the third stanzas.
In the nightcap, the Titans got on the board first again in doubles by taking two of three from the Spartans. The tandem of Koscielski and freshman
Nicholas Solarewicz picked up a 6-3 win from the top line before MSU evened the score with a 6-3 win from the third position.
The doubles point came down to Conley and Mertz in the second position. Tied 6-6, the duo earned the dramatic victory with a 7-3 edge in the tiebreaker. The win improves the pair's record together to a perfect 5-0 this spring.
The Spartans rallied back to take the match with five wins in singles, however, as Detroit's lone-victory came from Kadyrov. The junior picked up a grueling three-set win after falling in a close opening frame, 7-6.
With the results, the Titans fall to 0-11 all-time against Ball State and 0-9 against Michigan State.
Detroit returns to action against the Big Ten Conference on Friday, Feb. 5 at the University of Michigan.
