KALAMAZOO, Mich. -- The Western Michigan men's tennis team opened Mid-American Conference play falling to Buffalo, 4-3, and dispatching of Toledo, 4-3.
The Broncos hosted the Bulls indoors at Sorensen Court and the match came down to a tie-breaker at No. 3 singles between WMU's
Brogan Pierce and Clement Mainguy. Mainguy won the first set 6-2 but Pierce battled back to take the second set 6-4. The two battled back and forth in the third set until it was tied at 6-6 and entered a tie-breaker. Each player had the advantage during the tie-breaker but Mainguy came out the victor at 12-10.
After Buffalo took the doubles point,
Anton Arzhankin tied the match up at 1-1 with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Theodoris Mistakos at No. 1. Michael Malkin gave the lead back to the Bulls with a 7-6 (7-3), 6-4 win over
Jack Davison at No. 5.
Ashton Adesoro then tied it back up with a 6-1, 7-6 (7-3) win over Cheng Tang at No. 1. Freshman
Oscar Corwin gave the Broncos a 3-2 lead with a 7-5, 7-6 (7-4) win against Daniils Snaiders. Faiz Nasyam then tied the match at 3-3 with a 6-3, 5-7, 6-3 win over
Alex Antonopoulos.
The Broncos rebounded against the Rockets, winning 4-3, outdoors at Sorensen Courts. This time, the Brown & Gold earned the doubles point. Adesoro and Davison picked up a 6-3 win at No. 3 over Hanamichi Carvajal and Joshua Mackey. Arzhankin and Corwin then secured the point with a 6-3 win at No. 2 against Matias Olivero and Charlie Snow.
Arzhankin pushed the lead to 2-0 after making quick work of Hanamichi at No. 1 6-0, 6-2. Mackey pulled one back for Toledo after defeating Davison at No. 5 singles, 6-2, 6-2. Olivero then tied it up at 2-2 after beating Pierce at No. 3, 6-3, 3-6, 6-0. Antonopouls took the lead back for Western Michigan with a 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 win over Snow at No. 6 but the match was tied up shortly after, with UT's Lucas Britez defeating Corwin 6-2, 5-7, 7-5. The match came down to No. 2 singles between Poonthong Komolpisut and Adesoro. Adesoro won he first set 7-6 (8-6) but Komolpisut bested him in the second set, 6-3. Adesoro overpowered him in the third set to win 6-2, and clinch the match point for the Broncos.
Western Michigan is on the road in MAC play next week, heading to UIC on Thursday for a 2 p.m. first serve and then to Northern Illinois on Saturday at 2 p.m.
