KALAMAZOO, Mich. - The Western Michigan men's tennis team remained undefeated at its home court, defeating Valparaiso University 4-3 on Thursday at West Hills Athletic Club. 

WMU improves to 8-6 overall while staying unbeaten at West Hills Athletic Club at 7-0. Up 3-0, the Broncos were able to fend off a Crusader comeback with a Jannik Opitz win at the No. 1 spot for the fourth point. 

The match got off to an exciting start in doubles play. Opitz and Nouchi sealed the doubles point at the No. 1 spot in a tie-breaker set to give WMU a 1-0 lead heading into singles competition. 

Kuszynski and Schnobel gave the Broncos a 3-0 lead with wins on courts five and six, respectively. Valpo answered with wins at the No. 3 and 4 spots to cut the WMU lead to 3-2. After dropping his first set, Opitz responded to win the second and third sets, including a thrilling 7-5 final set to give the Broncos the 4-2 advantage. 

Western Michigan 4, Valparaiso 3
 
Singles competition
1. Jannik Opitz (MTENWMU) def. Chad Kissell (VALPO) 6-7 (3-7), 6-2, 7-5
2. Brandon Ancona (VALPO) def. Matej Svjetlicic (MTENWMU) 4-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-4
3. Kweisi Kenyatte (VALPO) def. Lenhard Haupt (MTENWMU) 7-6 (7-4), 6-3
4. Brian Pecyna (VALPO) def. Jack Randall (MTENWMU) 6-4, 3-6, 6-3
5. Peter Kuszynski (MTENWMU) def. Daniel Langston (VALPO) 6-1, 6-3
6. Nick Schnobel (MTENWMU) def. Gabriel Carvajal (VALPO) 6-3, 6-1
 
Doubles competition
1. Jannik Opitz/Kennosuke Nouchi (MTENWMU) def. Brandon Ancona/Kweisi Kenyatte (VALPO) 7-6 (9-7)
2. Brian Pecyna/Chad Kissell (VALPO) def. Lenhard Haupt/Jack Randall (MTENWMU) 6-4
3. Peter Kuszynski/Nick Schnobel (MTENWMU) def. Franklin Brozovich/Daniel Langston (VALPO) 6-2

"This was a big win for us," said head coach Dave Morin. "You could kind of feel the momentum switch when they were down 0-3 and began to comeback. Jannik turned it up a bit and it is a good way to go into break."

Up Next
Western Michigan has a week off before returning to action with its final non-conference match of the season on Sunday March 10, hosting Drake University at 10 a.m. inside West Hills Athletic Club.  

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