ABILENE, Texas – McMurry University's men's tennis team took on another nationally-ranked team, hosting Brigham Young University-Hawaii on Monday. However, the Seasiders (8-3) said "aloha" with a 7-2 non-conference win over the War Hawks (5-6) at the Seidel-Swagery Tennis Center.
BYU-Hawaii, ranked No. 19 in NCAA II, put the pressure on No. 41-ranked McMurry from the outset by sweeping all three doubles matches. With the 3-0 lead heading into singles play, McM faced the daunting task of having to win five of the six remaining contests.
The War Hawks were oh-so-close to pulling off the feat, too. McM got straight-set wins from
Cristiano Mendes at No. 4 singles and
Tom Weir at the No. 6 spot. Mendes topped Wei-Feng Lee by scores of 6-1, 6-4. Weir was victorious over Ian Galli of BYUH, 6-2, 6-1.
Three other McM players –
Felipe Cruz at No. 1,
Preston Steblein at No. 3 and
Casjen Rico at No. 5 – all went to three sets and, unfortunately for the McMurry faithful, all lost to their Seasider opponents.
#19 BYU-Hawai'i 7, #41 McMurry University 2
Mar 24, 2014 at Abilene, Texas (Seidel-Swagerty Tennis Center)
|
Singles competition |
|
1. Yevhen Zakharov (BYUH) def. Felipe Cruz (MCMMT) 6-1, 5-7, 6-0 |
|
2. Martin Chojnacki (BYUH) def. Chris Breaux (MCMMT) 6-3, 6-3 |
|
3. Ibrahim Karmadzhe (BYUH) def. Preston Steblein (MCMMT) 7-6 (8-2), 1-6, 6-3 |
|
4. Cristiano Mendes (MCMMT) def. Wei-Feng Lee (BYUH) 6-1, 6-4 |
|
5. Peng Dai (BYUH) def. Casjen Rico (MCMMT) 6-7 (6-8), 6-3, 6-4 |
|
6. Tom Weir (MCMMT) def. Ian Galli (BYUH) 6-2, 6-1 |
|
Match Notes |
|
BYU-Hawai'i 8-3; National ranking #19; Regional ranking #5 |
|
McMurry University 5-6; National ranking #41; Regional ranking #7 |
|
A-51 |
