Blue Raiders fall to Owls

TROY, Ala. - Middle Tennessee fell to Florida Atlantic 4-0 in the opening match of the Sun Belt Shootout on Friday morning.

To begin play, sophomore Richard Cowden and freshman Shaun Waters fell 8-6 to Marc Abdelnour and Matthew Braunworth 8-6. The juniors John Peers and Kyle Wishing tied the point after their extra set win over Lawrence Harradine and Georg Matschke, 9-8.

Senior Victor Melo and sophomore Matthew Langley tied their match with Joshua Scholl and Ervin Garibovic at 8 but the Owls took the win 9-8 and a 1-0 lead in the match.

Melo trailed Harradin 3-1 when the match was called by default.

In No. 2 singles, Langley fell to Matschke 6-1, 6-3 as FAU took a 3-0 lead. Then Braunworth defeated Wishing 6-4, 6-4 to hand the Owls the win.

Middle Tennessee will face the loser of New Orleans vs. Troy at 8:30 Saturday morning. The New Orleans vs. Troy match is scheduled for 2 p.m. Friday afternoon.

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