Men's Tennis Falls in Finals

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - Middle Tennessee's top-seeded Marco Born and Andreas Siljestrom were broken late in the match, falling 9-7 in the finals of the ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships Sunday in Columbus, Ohio.

Facing a large and vocal crowd indoors at the Racquet Club of Columbus and against the home team from Ohio State, second-ranked Scott Green and Ross Wilson, the Blue Raider duo played good but not great throughout the match according to head coach Dale Short.

"The guys played well, but we did not return serve all that well and there were very few opportunities for a break in the match," Short said. "It was a big crowd, loud, maybe the biggest crowd we've ever faced.

"Andreas had one shaky service game and [Ohio State] took advantage of their opportunity [to break]. It was their court and their crowd, but the guys performed well and have really accomplished a lot this fall, winning one national title and making the finals of another."

Ohio State broke Siljestrom at 7-7 before winning the final game of the match to claim their third national title in the last two years. Green and Wilson won both the All-American Championships and the National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships in 2004. They were taken down in their attempt to capture the collegiate grand slam this past May by Born and Siljestrom at the NCAA Championships, with the Blue Raiders taking a 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, decision to eliminate the Buckeyes.

The National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships is the second of three collegiate grand slam events this academic year. Born and Siljestrom won the first grand slam event of the year, the Polo Ralph Lauren ITA All-American Championships last month in Tulsa, Okla., and became the first Middle Tennessee tandem to reach the finals of the National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships in the history of the program.

Full results of the tournament may be accessed at itatennis.com.

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