Tennis defeats Northern Illinois 6-1

ROCKFORD, Ill. - Middle Tennessee rebounded from its Friday loss to soundly beat Northern Illinois 6-1 on Saturday afternoon.

The Blue Raiders began play by winning all three doubles matches to take an early 1-0 lead. Sophomore Shaun Waters and freshman Ben Davis paired up to defeat Maximilian Phillips and Roman Turtygin 8-0. At No. 2 doubles, freshmen Elliot Barnwell and Joseph Cohen won their match 8-3 over Axel Lagerlof and Maksym Lagutin. Junior Matthew Langley and r-freshman Dimitri Pippos rounded out doubles action with their 8-6 win over Maksym Bartiuk and Bryant Poggensee-Wei.

"We came out with a lot more intensity today beginning with doubles," head coach Jimmy Borendame said. "The intensity we played with today we need to bring to every match especially with the opponents we have coming up next weekend."

Middle Tennessee cruised in singles play with four of the positions winning in straight sets. Langley won 6-3, 6-4 at No. 2 singles over Bartiuk. Cohen defeated Lagutin 6-3, 6-3 at No. 4 singles. At No. 3 singles, Barnwell won his match 6-0, 6-0 over Poggense-Wei.

Davis continued his impressive run defeating his opponent, Lagerlof, 6-3, 6-4 at No. 3 singles.

Waters battled but fell 7-6 (5), 7-6 (5) to Turtygin at No. 1 singles. Pippos won his first set 6-3 over Phillips but lost the second 7-5. Pippos pulled out the win in the super tiebreaker by a score of 10-7.

The Blue Raiders will be back in action Friday, Feb. 11 when they travel to Providence, R.I. to play Brown at 4 p.m. Middle Tennessee will then travel to New Haven, Conn., where it will play Yale at 6 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 12.

Complete Results
Middle Tennessee 6, Northern Illinois 1

Singles 1. Roman Turtygin (NIU) def. Shaun Waters (MT) 7-6 (10-5), 7-6 (10-5)
2. Matthew Langley (MT) def. Maksym Bartiuk (NIU) 6-3, 6-4 3. Ben Davis (MT) def. Axel Lagerlof (NIU) 6-3, 6-0
4. Elliott Barnwell (MT) def. Bryant Poggensee-Wei (NIU) 6-0, 6-0
5. Joseph Cohen (MT) def. Maksym Lagutin (NIU) 6-3, 6-3
6. Dimitri Pippos (MT) def. Maximilian Phillips (NIU) 6-3, 5-7, 10-7

Doubles
1. Shaun Waters/Ben Davis (MT) def. Maximilian Phillips/Roman Turtygin (NIU) 8-0
2. Elliott Barnwell/Joseph Cohen (MT) def. Axel Lagerlof/Maksym Lagutin (NIU) 8-3
3. Matthew Langley/Dimitri Pippos (MT) def. Maksym Bartiuk/Bryant Poggensee-Wei (NIU) 8-6

Match Notes: Middle Tennessee 4-1 Northern Illinois 1-3

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