Davis earns victory as MT falls to No. 64 Northwestern

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Ben Davis earned a straight-set victory in the No. 1 spot over Northwestern’s Sidarth Balaji, but it was the only match the Blue Raider men’s tennis team claimed in a 6-1 defeat to the 64th-ranked Wildcats on Friday afternoon at Nashboro Village.

Middle Tennessee (2-3) battled against Northwestern (6-1), especially in the second set of three matches. Davis led the way with a dominant 6-2, 6-1 showing.

Matthew Langley fell in the first set, but it took a 10-8 tiebreaker to give Josh Graves the victory 6-4, 7-6 victory. After getting shut out in the initial set, Forrest Edwards battled Alex Pasareanu to a 7-6 (3) victory in the second set to force a tiebreak. The two kept it close throughout the tiebreaker before Pasareanu finally pulled out the 11-9 decision. Yannick Born also took the second set of his match to a tiebreaker, but fell, 6-4, 7-6 (3).

Ettore Zito and Christoph Lang fell in straight sets, while all three doubles duos also dropped decisions.

The Blue Raiders waste no time getting back on the court, as they welcome Brown on Saturday at 3 p.m. Live stats are available here.

Results
Singles
1. Ben Davis (MT) def. Sidarth Balaji (NU) 6-2, 6-1
2. Josh Graves (NU) def. Matthew Langley (MT) 6-4, 7-6 (10-8)
3. #97 Spencer Wolf (NU) def. Ettore Zito (MT) 6-1, 6-2
4. Raleigh Smith (NU) def. Christoph Lang (MT) 6-1, 6-1
5. Alex Pasareanu (NU) def. Forrest Edwards (MT) 0-6, 7-6 (7-3), 1-0 (11-9)
6. Nikhil Jayashankar (NU) def. Yannick Born (MT) 6-4, 7-6 (7-3)

Doubles

1. Spencer Wolf/Josh Graves (NU) def. Ben Davis/Christoph Lang (MT) 8-6
2. Raleigh Smith/Alex Pasareanu (NU) def. Marlon Brand/Yannick Born (MT) 8-4
3. Sidarth Balaji/Chris Jackman (NU) def. Ettore Zito/Dimitri Pippos (MT) 8-1

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