KALAMAZOO, Mich. – The Western Michigan men's tennis team snapped its three-match losing streak with an emphatic 6-1 win over Michigan State at West Hills Athletic Club on Saturday evening.
The Broncos (3-3) took an early 1-0 lead after earning the doubles point in thrilling fashion. It was tied up at 1-1 after
Peter Kuszynski and
Joaquin Caballer defeated Reed Crocker and Jack Winkler, 7-5. It all came down to No. 1 with WMU's
Arjun Honnappa and
Fynn Lohse tied at 6-6 with MSU's Nick Williams and Kazuki Matsuno. Honnappa and Lohse went down early but battled back to take the tie-breaker 7-5 and secure the point.
Western Michigan pushed the lead to 2-0 thanks to quick work by sophomore
Benjamin George. George played at No. 6 singles and blew past Josh Portnoy 6-0, 6-0. Freshman
Anton Arzhankin picked up his 14th singles victory of the season, beating Carson Gates 6-3, 6-3 to put WMU up 3-0. The Broncos secured the win after Kuszynski defeated Winkler 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 at No. 1. Lohse then made it 5-0 with a win at No. 3 over Luke Baylis 6-0, 4-6, 6-4. MSU got its lone point at No. 5 with Graydon Lair beating
Brogan Pierce 6-4, 5-7, 7-5. The sixth and final point was earned by Honnappa at No. 4 in a 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 win over Max Sheldon.
Western Michigan has next week off before traveling to Notre Dame on Friday, Feb. 18 for a 6 p.m. start.
