Men's Tennis Falls, 5-2, at UALR

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - The 65th-ranked Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders won the double point but dropped a trio of three-set matches, falling to 75th-rated Arkansas-Little Rock, 5-2, late Saturday night in Little Rock, Ark.

The Blue Raiders (0-2) won the doubles point for the second straight match, and it was the same pair of doubles teams that won matches.

The 30th-ranked Middle Tennessee tandem of Kirk Jackson and Trevor Short lost 8-6 to Bastian Faisst and Sebastian Falk at No. 1. But the duo was picked up by the 46th-ranked pairing of Brandon Allan and Kai Schledorn, who won 8-5 over Mark Edney and Alexei Poutchinets at No. 2. Middle Tennessee won the point with an 8-6 victory over Jarrad Bunt and Mithun Murali at No. 3.

In singles the Blue Raiders took leads in a pair of singles matches but could not hold on to finish the matches, dropping three-setters at Nos. 2 and 3.

Jackson jumped out at No. 2 on Falk, winning the first set 6-3 before dropping the final two sets, 6-4, 6-3. Siljestrom did the same at No. 3 against Poutchinets, winning the first set 7-5 before losing the final two sets, 6-4, 6-4.

Short dropped a 6-1, 6-2, decision to Faisst at No. 1, while Anant Sitaram lost 6-4, 6-4, at No. 4 to David Baxendine.

Schledorn battled back at No. 5 against Murali, dropping the first set 7-5 but winning the second, 6-4, before dropping the super-tiebreaker, 10-8.

The only singles win for Middle Tennessee came at No. 6 where Kuruppu defeated Bunt, 6-2, 7-5.

"I am very disappointed with the loss," Blue Raider head coach Dale Short said. "I felt like we were more talented, but we have some guys who are not used to the team environment and we're just not getting the job done when we need to."

Middle Tennessee hosts a pair of home matches this Saturday, taking on 52nd-ranked Louisville at 11 a.m. before hosting Belmont at 6 p.m. Both matches will take place at the Racquet Club in Murfreesboro.

#75 Arkansas-Little Rock 5, #65 Middle Tennessee 2
Singles
1. Bastian Faisst (UALR) def. Trevor Short (MT), 6-1, 6-2
2. Sebastian Falk (UALR) def. Kirk Jackson (MT), 3-6, 6-4, 6-3
3. Alexei Poutchinets (UALR) def. Andreas Siljestrom (MT), 5-7, 6-4, 6-4
4. David Baxendine (UALR) def. Anant Sitaram (MT), 6-4, 6-4
5. Mithun Murali (UALR) def. Kai Schledorn (MT), 7-5, 4-6, 10-8
6. Rishan Kuruppu (MT) def. Jarrad Bunt (UALR), 6-2, 7-5

Doubles
1. Faisst-Falk (UALR) def. (30) Jackson-Short (MT), 8-6
2. (46) Brandon Allan-Schledorn (MT) def. Mark Edney-Poutchinets (UALR), 8-5
3. Kuruppu-Siljestrom (MT) def. Bunt-Murali (UALR), 8-6

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