KALAMAZOO, Mich. – The Western Michigan men's tennis team earned a pair of 6-1 wins over Butler and Ferris State to kick off its dual match season on Saturday at West Hills Athletic Club.
 
The Broncos (2-0) won a thrilling doubles point to open the morning against BU. After Butler's Thomas Brennan and Alvaro Huete defeated Peter Kuszynski and Ferdinand Schlueter 6-2, WMU battled to get the point in two tie-breaking wins. Sophomore Brogan Pierce and freshman Anton Arzhankin defeated Zach Trimpe and Patrick Joss 7-6 (7-2) and junior Arjun Honnappa and senior Fynn Lohse finalized the point after a 7-6 (8-6) win over Michael Dickson and Drew Michael.
 
Arzhankin, Lohse, and Pierce all won their singles matches 2-0, while Benjamin George won 7-6 (7-2), 4-6, 1-0 (10-7) at No. 3 over Dickson, while Jackson Boone also won in three sets at 6-3, 2-6, 6-4.
 
In the afternoon the Broncos earned the doubles point over FSU, again going 2-1, Kuszynski and sophomore Joaquin Caballer put WMU up 1-0 with a 6-1 win over Josh McDermott and Benjamin Lortie. The Bulldogs tied it up at 1-1 after Yannic Mader and Ayush Deswal beat Pierce and Arzhankin 6-4. Honnappa and Lohse were placed at No. 1 against Ferris State and defeated Mathis Guerre and Jan Koupil to secure the point.
 
Kuszynski, Lohse, Boone and Pierce all earned 2-0 wins in singles action, while Arhzankin moved up to No. 1 and won in three sets 6-1, 4-6, 7-5 over Guerre.
 
The Broncos have a quick turnaround next week, heading to Notre Dame to take on the Fighting Irish on Wednesday at 5 p.m. before heading to the University of Michigan on Friday for a 6 p.m. match.