KISSIMMEE, Fla. – The McMurry University men's tennis team lost a pair of close matches on its Orlando-area trip. The War Hawks (3-8) fell to both the College of St. Scholastica (10-1) and Colby-Sawyer College (3-6), both by identical 5-4 scores at Oak Street Park.
In McM's first match of the day versus the College of St. Scholastica, the War Hawks had an early 2-1 advantage after doubles. At No. 1 doubles,
Carlos Martinez and
Andrew Hallowell won by an 8-5 score, with
Logan Daniell and Thierry Tchenko taking No. 3 doubles, 8-6.
In singles, however, the Saints would turn matters in their favor. McM's Martinez won at No. 1 singles over Serhii Tykhonenko, 6-3, 7-6 (7-3).
The team's other singles win came at the No. 6 slot, where
Zach Miller defeated CSS's Chad Hietala in straight sets, 7-5, 6-0.
In the nightcap, McMurry's only doubles win came at No. 3 where Daniell and Tchenko won their second match of the day, dispatching of the Chargers' duo by an 8-3 count.
Trailing 2-1 entering singles play, the War Hawks battled gamely and split sets in two losses, either of which would have changed the team outcome had it gone in McM's favor.
Martinez and
Clayton Pope won at the Nos 1 and 2 positions, respectively. Martinez took care of CSC's Alex Wright, 6-12, 6-1. Pope defeated Ryan Sawyer 7-6 (7-4), 6-1.
The Chargers won in straight sets at No. 3 singles and McM's Hallowell gave the War Hawks their fourth point of the match at No. 6 singles. Hallowell topped Michael White in three sets 6-3, 4-6, and 10-7 in the third set tiebreaker pro set.
At No. 4 singles, McM senior Tchenko – an McM basketball player in just his first full week with the tennis team - duked it out with the Chargers' Ross Kenney. Tchenko took set one by a 6-2 score. But Kenney squeezed out a 7-6 (7-4) win in set two to even the match. Kenney won the set three tiebreaker, 10-4.
Miller had a similar fate at No. 5 singles. After dropping set one to CSC's Matt Burke (6-3), Miller rebounded to even the match by taking the second set, 7-5. In the third set tiebreaker, Miller fell by a 10-7 score.
