MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - Middle Tennessee's Andreas Siljestrom and Marco Born lost in the second round and Siljestrom dropped his consolation match as well, eliminating the Blue Raider contingent at the Polo Ralph Lauren ITA All-American Championships in Tulsa, Okla.
Siljestrom-Born, ranked third nationally and seeded second in the first of three national championship events this academic year, dropped an 8-6 decision to LSU's Ken Skupski and James Cluskey in the Round of 16 Friday afternoon.
The Blue Raider duo swept five matches at last year's All-American to claim the school's third overall national championship and second in doubles.
"[LSU] played well and returned well, but we didn't win the big points, didn't cross well," Born said. "I should never lose my service game and I did twice in the match. We were up 40-love in the first one and should have won that one. Then [LSU] was just begging to be broken and we finally did, but then I love my serve again in the next game."
Born said he and Siljestrom have to go back to the drawing board to find a new formula for winning the big matches.
"Everyone knows what we're doing right now and have adjusted to our game," Born said. "We have to be a little more creative with what we're doing, find a way to win again," he said.
Earlier in the day Siljestrom lost to Duke's 44th-ranked Peter Rodrigues, 6-4, 7-5, in the Round of 16 in the consolation singles draw. Siljestrom was 1-2 in singles in the tournament, defeating VCU's 15th-ranked Arnaud Lecloerec and losing to Oklahoma State's 61st-rated Ivan Puchkarov.
Full results from the tournament may be found at itatennis.com or tulsahurricane.com.
POLO RALPH LAUREN ITA ALL-AMERICAN CHAMPIONSHIPS
Singles
Consolation -- Round of 16
(44) Peter Rodrigues (Duke) def. (32) Andreas Siljestrom (MT), 6-4, 7-5
Doubles
Round of 16
Ken Skupski-James Cluskey (LSU) def. (3) Siljestrom-Born (MT), 8-3
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