OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. — It was the start the third-seeded Flagler College men's tennis team had hoped for in its opening match at the ITA National Indoor Championship.
The No. 9-ranked Saints breezed through doubles play, securing a point quickly, but then Flagler was tripped up in singles as sixth-seeded, No. 10 the University of Indianapolis took the next four points to snag the 4-1 win to begin the tournament Friday morning at the Oklahoma City Center.
"Today, we had a great start into the match getting leads in every doubles and clinching the doubles point," Flagler head coach
Thomas Hipp said. "However, U-Indy showed good spirit coming out strong in the singles. All singles were close and hard fought, and unfortunately, we lost. My team showed great morale and fought as much as they could. In close situation, you could see the lack of experience of my players and hopefully this young group will learn. Tomorrow we have another opportunity to grow as a team."
The Saints (0-2) will play the loser of the No. 19 Delta State University, who lost to No. 3 University of West Florida in straight sets, at 8 a.m. Saturday.
Clinching the doubles point for Flagler were the duos of
Rodrigo Carvalho/
Philipp Lemken and
Rasmus Jonsson/
William Jonsson as they won 6-2 and 6-1 in that order. The Saints lost a pair of tiebreaker sets as
Nikita Tatyanin was edged in set one of his No. 2 singles, while sixth-singles player
Slobodan Cejovic battled back after an opening-set loss before dropping the tiebreaker set two to give U-Indy (5-0) the clinching match.
Carvalho and Lemken were battling back in their No. 1 and No. 4 respective matches, but were cut short with the Greyhounds' fourth point.
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#10 Indianapolis 4, #9 Flagler 1
Singles
1.
Rodrigo Carvalho (FLG) vs. Lima, Renato (UINDY) 4-6, 7-5, 2-1, unfinished
2. Zeuch, Tom (UINDY) def.
Nikita Tatyanin (FLG) 7-6 (7-3), 6-2
3. Gascia, Agustin (UINDY) def.
Rasmus Jonsson (FLG) 6-4, 6-0
4.
Philipp Lemken (FLG) vs. Talimaa, Nikolaj (UINDY) 5-7, 4-5, unfinished
5. Viel, Yoann (UINDY) def.
Diego Amilibia (FLG) 6-3, 6-3
6. Gerweck, Jason (UINDY) def.
Slobodan Cejovic (FLG) 6-2, 7-6 (7-3)
Doubles
1.
Rodrigo Carvalho/
Philipp Lemken (FLG) def. Lima, Renato/Gascia, Agustin (UINDY) 6-2
2.
Nikita Tatyanin/
Slobodan Cejovic (FLG) vs. Zeuch, Tom/Gerweck, Jason (UINDY) 4-4, unfinished
3.
Rasmus Jonsson/
William Jonsson (FLG) def. Franca, Pedro/Talimaa, Nikolaj (UINDY) 6-1
Match Notes:
Indianapolis 5-0; National ranking #10
Flagler 0-2; National ranking #9
Order of finish: Doubles (1,3); Singles (5,3,2,6)
Win by Clinch
T-2:30
