The Blue Raiders improved to 6-2 overall this season with their third straight victory. Middle Tennessee takes on No. 45 Texas Tech at 1 p.m. Friday in the tourney semifinals.

In doubles the Blue Raiders won matches at Nos. 1 and 2.

Marco Born and Andreas Siljestrom, ranked second nationally for Middle Tennessee, defeated Jerry Posch and Mark Tate, 8-4, at No. 1, and Brandon Allan and Kai Schledorn won 8-3 at No. 2 over Adrian Szatmary and Joerg Barthel. At No. 3 Nebraska's Arturo Navarro and James Clow won 8-5 over Morgan Richard and Pollack.

The Blue Raiders won all three completed singles matches and led two other tilts early in the third set.

Born defeated Navarro, 7-5, 6-0, at No. 2, and Schledorn won 6-2, 6-2, over Szatmary at No. 3. Pollack's 6-4, 6-4, triumph at No. 5 over Tate was the clincher, pushing the Blue Raiders into the semifinals.

In the other matches, Siljestrom and Posch split sets at No. 1 and Siljestrom led 1-0 in the third set. Kuruppu and Clow had the same score at No. 4, and Richard was down a set but up 5-2 in the second at No. 6.

"This was our first outdoor match and there were some tough conditions today, very windy," head coach Dale Short said. "We really competed well. That's what it takes to beat a good team like [Nebraska], who had just beaten Florida State earlier in the day.

"If we play a little better [Friday] against Texas Tech, we'll be OK. As a team we did better than we've done, although we played somewhat ugly."

#37 Middle Tennessee, #50 Nebraska 0
SINGLES
1. Andreas Siljestrom (MT) vs. Jerry Posch (NU), DNF
2. Marco Born (MT) def. Arturo Navarro (NU), 7-5, 6-0
3. Kai Schledorn (MT) def. Adrian Szatmary (NU), 6-2, 6-2
4. Rishan Kuruppu vs. James Clow (NU), DNF
5. Greg Pollack def. Mark Tate (NU), 6-4, 6-4
6. Morgan Richard vs. Hendrik Stahmer (NU), DNF

DOUBLES
1. (2) Born-Siljestrom (MT) def. Tate-Posch, 8-4
2. Allan-Schledorn (MT) def. Szatmary-Joerg Barthel, 8-3
3. Navarro-Clow def. Richard-Pollack (MT), 8-5

Mail to a friend	Print this article
Share on Facebook