Blue Raiders down Golden Eagles

Like it did in the 5-2 win over Brown, Middle Tennessee won the doubles point to begin play. Junior John Peers and senior Victor Melo defeated Josh Girling and Nicholas Stafford 8-3.

In No. 2 doubles, Oscar Pachon and Arturo Santa Ruize defeated freshman Shaun Waters and sophomore Richard Cowden 8-2.

With the doubles point on the line, junior Kyle Wishing and sophomore Matthew Langley battled against Alex Chen and Lloyd Harris taking the win 8-6 and giving the Blue Raiders a 1-0 lead.

"I am very excited about the way we competed and played today. Our tough schedule certainly helped us in both matches today and will continue to help us down the road," head coach David McNamara said. "We had some guys who were struggling and needed wins to gain confidence and they got them. It is looking very good for us down the stretch and I hope we can use the momentum from today on Sunday and the rest of the season." In singles action, Tennessee Tech evened the score at 1 but that was the only point it would win in the match.

Peers defeated Chen 6-2, 6-2 while Melo won his match 7-5, 6-3 over Girling to put Middle Tennessee up 3-1.

Cowden pulled out a two-set battle 7-5, 7-5 over Justin Kirstein to seal the win for the Blue Raiders.

Waters and Langley rounded out play for the Blue Raiders as each recorded a win. Waters defeated Pachon 6-2, 7-6 (5) while Langley won his match 6-7 (4), 6-4, 10-4 over Harris.

The Blue Raiders will have the rest of the week off to prepare for Vanderbilt. Middle Tennessee and Vanderbilt are set to play at 12 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 27 in Nashville.

Follow the Blue Raiders on Twitter @MTAthletics for continued updates.