MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - Middle Tennessee won the doubles point but lost four of the six singles matches, including Marco Born's deciding tilt at No. 2, as the 37th-ranked Blue Raiders dropped a 4-3 decision to No. 45 Texas Tech in the semifinals of the HEB Invitational in Corpus Christi, Texas.
The Blue Raiders (6-3) jumped out with two quick doubles victories but then lost three of the first four singles matches, with only junior Kai Schledorn winning at No. 3. Senior Brandon Allan evened the match at three with a victory at No. 4, but Born lost the deciding match after being up a set and in a second-set tiebreaker.
In doubles, second-ranked Born and Andreas Siljestrom defeated Adrian Prpic and Christian Rojmar, 8-5, at No. 1, and Allan and Schledorn won 8-1 over Dimitro Martinez and Michael Breler. The Blue Raiders also led 6-4 at No. 3, with Greg Pollack and Morgan Richard of Middle Tennessee taking on Teddy DiBlasi and Sinisa Markovic.
In singles the Red Raiders won matches at Nos. 1, 2, 5 and 6, with three of the victories in straight sets.
Prpic defeated 50th-ranked Siljestrom at No. 1, 6-3, 6-3, but Schledorn came back with a 7-6, 6-2, triumph at No. 3 over Rojmar.
DiBlasi then won 6-3, 6-3, over Pollack at No. 6 and Markovic took care of Rishan Kuruppu, 6-4, 6-4, at No. 5, giving Texas Tech and 3-2 lead.
Allan evened the match at three with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, triumph over Breler at No. 4, leaving the match result at No. 2 between Born and Martinez.
Born won the first set, 7-5, and the first went to a second-set tiebreaker, which went Martinez's way. The TTU junior then won the final set, 6-1, ending Middle Tennessee's three-match winning streak.
"Marco lost at two and we thought we were going to win there, but we lost some other matches where we should have won, as well," head coach Dale Short said. "Andreas did not play well at all and then the guys at the bottom of the lineup didn't do well, either."
Middle Tennessee faces 71st-ranked South Alabama at 2 p.m. Saturday in the consolation bracket.
#45 Texas Tech 4, #37 Middle Tennessee 3
SINGLES
1. Adrian Prpic (TTU) def. (50) Andreas Siljestrom (MT), 6-3, 6-3
2. Dimitro Martinez (TTU) def. Marco Born (MT), 5-7, 7-6, 6-1
3. Kai Schledorn (MT) def. Christian Rojmar (TTU), 7-6, 6-2
4. Brandon Allan (MT) def. Michael Breler (TTU), 6-3, 3-6, 6-3
5. Sinisa Markovic (TTU) def. Rishan Kuruppu (MT), 6-4, 6-4
6. Teddy DiBlasi (TTU) def. Greg Pollack (M T), 6-3, 6-3
DOUBLES
1. (2) Born-Siljestrom (MT) def. Prpic-Rojmar (TTU), 8-5
2. Allan-Schledorn (MT) def. Martinez-Breler (TTU), 8-1
3. Pollack-Morgan Richard (MT) vs. DiBlasi-Markovic (TTU), DNF
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