Men's Tennis wraps up Dale Short Shootout with four match wins Sunday

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - The Middle Tennessee men's tennis team finished play in the Dale Short Shootout on Sunday with four match wins over UAB at the Buck Bouldin Tennis Center.

The Blue Raiders split two doubles matches with the Blazers to start the day. Yannick Born and Marlon Brand jumped out to a 5-2 lead over David Zimmerman and Tom Puetz of UAB, the UAB duo battled back to even the match 6-6. The two tandems traded service holds until 8-7 when Born and Brand broke serve to win the match 9-7 and the Dale Short Shootout doubles title. Ettore Zito and Tomas Legzdins lost their match to Rafael Rondino and Luiz Pinto 8-5.

Zito and Legzdins bounced back in singles play. Zito won a hard-fought 7-6 (7-4), 5-7, 7-6 (7-5) match against Zimmerman to win the Dale Short Shootout singles title. Both players entered the match 2-0 on the weekend. Legzdins defeated Lucas Dirube 7-6, 6-3 to complete his perfect singles weekend. For the second straight day, Born went three sets in his singles match. Born defeated Puetz 6-3, 3-6, 6-2, earning a key service break in the third set. Brand dropped his singles match to Rondino 2-6, 5-7.

Christoph Lang and Ben Davis finished their play at the UVA Ranked Plus One Invitational with singles matches. Lang won his match 6-1, 6-2 against Thomas Dehaen of Radford. Davis lost to Jaime Vazquez of VCU 2-6, 2-4.

Middle Tennessee is back in action next weekend with players playing in both the UTC Steve Baras Invitational at Chattanooga and the ITA All-American Championships in Tulsa, Okla.

Sunday's Results

Dale Short Shootout

Doubles

Yannick Born/Marlon Brand (MT) def. David Zimmerman/Tom Puetz (UAB) 9-7

Rafael Rondino/Luiz Pinto (UAB) def. Ettore Zito/Tomas Legzdins (MT) 8-5

Singles

Ettore Zito (MT) def. David Zimmerman (UAB) 7-6 (7-4), 5-7, 7-6 (7-5)

Rafael Rondino (UAB) def. Marlon Brand (MT), 6-2, 7-5

Yannick Born (MT) def. Tom Puetz (UAB) 6-3, 3-6, 6-2

Tomas Legzdins (MT) def. Lucas Dirube (UAB) 7-6, 6-3

Singles Champion: Ettore Zito, MT

Doubles Champions: Marlon Brand and Yannick Born, MT

UVA Ranked Plus One Invitational

Christoph Lang (MT) def. Thomas Dehaen (Radford) 6-1, 6-2

Jaime Vazquez (VCU) def. Ben Davis (MT) 6-2, 4-2 ret.

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