SOUTHFIELD, Mich.- The Lawrence Technological University (Mich.) men's tennis team fought until the end of their first home match of the season but lost against Judson University (Ill.). This match was played at the Birmingham Groves High School tennis courts in Southfield, Mich. with a final score of 2-5. This result sets the all-time series 1-1.
The Blue Devils put up a fight in all doubles flights but won only one of them. Doubles pair Alex Fernandez-Rajal (FR/Barcelona, Spain) and Alexander Tammaro (FR/Caracas, Venezuela) lost 2-8 against Christopher Kerswell and Chris Veltkamp at court-one doubles. Doubles pair Robert Saitov (JR/Ufa, Bashkortostan Republic, Russia) and Alejo Tintore-Godall (FR/Barcelona, Spain) fell 5-8 against Joel Hancox and Brandon Courcelles at court-two doubles.
The only point LTU got in doubles flights was by the last pair to finish their match, Marc Kerndl (JR/Grafing, Germany) and Lukas Obel (FR/Weybridge, England), as they won 8-6 against Marcus Berg and Dimitri Ingrassia at court-three doubles.
The Blue Devils won one singles flight and lost three. Tintore-Godall won his match against Courcelles at court-five singles with a score of 6-2 in both sets. At court-six singles, Viktor Kolesnychenko (FR/Lviv, Ukraine) lost both sets against Berg with a score of 5-7 and 2-6. Tammaro fell against Kerswell at court-two singles with a score of 5-7 and 0-6. At court-one singles, Saitov lost both sets against Veltkamp with a score of 2-6 and 4-6. By this time, the Eagles had won the match since they already had five out of the nine points and by unanimous decision of both head coaches the match was stopped, courts-three and four singles did not finish their matches.
Lawrence Tech asked Head Coach Stephen Behmlander for his thoughts on the match. Here is what he had to say about it:
"We played a very well coached team in miserable [weather] conditions today...Of course, they had to play in the same conditions. Their upperclassmen showed our kids why fitness and hydration, especially in conditions like today, are so important. If you look inside the scores, we were in every match, and even though we only played to clinch, two of our three final matches on court were in a third set when the match concluded. We are young, we are going to make mistakes, but what we learn and how we respond and bounce back after a tough match like today, will define us moving forward this season".
The Blue Devils will return to the courts on September 12 when they face Adrian College (Mich.) in Adrian, Mich. at 4:00 PM.
