Men's Tennis Suffers First Loss At UMKC
Big Rapids, Mich. - The Ferris State University men's tennis
team suffered its first loss of the 2009-10 campaign as the
Bulldogs dropped a 5-2 decision on the road to NCAA Division I
Missouri-Kansas City on Tuesday (March 9) afternoon in North Kansas
City, Mo.
The Kangaroos improved to 5-3 overall with the victory while FSU
fell to 3-1 overall this season with the setback at the Northland
Racquet Club.
UMKC opened the day by tallying 8-2 victories at the top two doubles positions to claim the first point as the three tandem matches counted as a single point in the team score per NCAA Division I regulations. Patrick Smith and Bret Berryman beat FSU's Kyle Revall and Steven Roberts at the one line, while Serge Ristivojevic and Gustavo Guerin topped Jack Swan and Justin Hermes at the second spot.
The 'Roos then completed the doubles sweep with an 8-5 victory at the third position where David Heckler and Adbul Alawadhi downed the Bulldogs' Ahmet Demir and Arin Enge.
In singles play, Smith posted the most lopsided victory of the day with his 6-1, 6-2 win at the second flight over Demir. Ristivojevic followed with a 7-6 (6), 6-3 straight-set decision over Swan before Guerin clinched the match victory with his 7-5, 6-3 win over Hermes at the four position.
UMKC's final victory of the day came at the sixth position where Alawadhi downed Tyler Marengo, 2-6, 6-1, 10-6 in a three-setter for his first collegiate win.
Ferris tallied its two wins at the one and five singles
positions in three-setters. Revall downed Berryman, 7-6 (4),
1-6, 7-5, at the top spot with Roberts topping Heckler, 6-2, 3-6,
10-8, at the five.
Ferris State is ranked fourth overall in the latest
Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Midwest Regional Rankings
along with 44th in the current ITA Division II National
Rankings.
The Bulldogs continue their five-match trip to Missouri and Kansas
this week by visiting Northwest Missouri State on Wednesday (March
10) for a 2 p.m. (EST) dual in Marysville, Mo.