Blue Raiders Drop Tough One, 4-3

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - The 52^nd-ranked Sycamores of Indiana State won the final three singles matches to overcome a 3-1 deficit and defeated 51^st-ranked Middle Tennessee Sunday afternoon at the Racquet Club.

 

The Blue Raiders (1-3) won all three doubles matches to take an early 1-0 lead, as the squad got early breaks in all three matchups and made them stand up.

 

Blue Raiders Brandon Allan and Greg Pollack defeated Henry Choi and Lovre Brajkovic, 8-5, at No. 2, before Trevor Short and Michael Staniak dropped Vedron Vidovic and Dmytro Ishtuganov, 8-6, at No. 3 to give Middle Tennessee the doubles point. The 10^th-ranked duo of Daniel Klemetz and Kirk Jackson defeated Dalibor Mihajlovic and David O'Connell, 8-6, at No. 1, to finish off the clean sweep of the doubles matches.

 

Singles action was furious in the first four matches, as the visiting Sycamores won the first set at Nos. 1, 2 and 3, but the Blue Raiders continued to battle and jumped ahead at No. 4 behind Rishan Kuruppu.

 

The 47^th-rated Vidovic was just too much for third-ranked Klemetz at No. 1, winning 6-4, 6-2. The match was the first singles competition of the spring for Klemetz and only his second match of the year.

 

Staniak came back to win his match at No. 3 in three sets, 3-6, 6-4, 6-2, as did the 92^nd-ranked Jackson at No. 2, breaking Choi twice in the final set en route to a 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 victory, and a 3-1 Blue Raider advantage.

 

Ishtuganov overcame a 4-1 deficit in the second set to Kuruppu to force a tiebreaker in what was probably the turning point of the match. Ishtuganov won the breaker to force a third set and went on to beat Kuruppu, 4-6, 7-6, 6-2.

 

The Sycamores' Mihajlovic knotted the match at 3 with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Short at No. 6, and O'Connell broke Allan twice in the final set en route to a clinching 6-4, 6-7, 6-2 win at No. 5.

 

The Blue Raiders take the next 12 days off before their next competition against Furman on February 14 at 2:30 p.m. at the Racquet Club.

 

#52 INDIANA STATE 4, #51 MIDDLE TENNESSEE 3

SINGLES

1. (47) Vedron Vidovic (ISU) def. (3) Daniel Klemetz (MT), 6-4, 6-2

2. (92) Kirk Jackson (MT) def. Henry Choi (ISU), 4-6, 6-3, 6-3

3. Michael Staniak (MT) def. Lovre Brajkovic (ISU), 3-6, 6-4, 6-2

4. Dmytro Ishtuganov (ISU) def. Rishan Kuruppu (MT), 4-6, 7-6, 6-2

5. David O'Connell (ISU) def. Brandon Allan (MT), 6-4, 6-7, 6-2

6. Dalibor Mihajlovic (ISU) def. Trevor Short (MT), 6-2, 6-3

 

DOUBLES

1. (10) Klemetz-Jackson (MT) def. Mihajlovic-O'Connell (ISU), 8-6

2. Allan-Pollack (MT) def. Choi-Brajkovic (ISU), 8-5

3. Short-Staniak (MT) def. Vidovic-Ishtuganov (ISU), 8-6

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