Men's Tennis clinches fifth victory of season

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Middle Tennessee clinched its fifth victory of the season with a 6-1 victory over UAB at Nashboro Village on Friday night.

The Blue Raiders (5-2) won the doubles point for the first time this season after victories in the second and third flights over the Blazers (3-3). 

Ben Davis and Victor Cornea paired together for the first time this season to defeat UAB's Chris Helliar and Luke Dirube, 8-3, while Christoph Lang and David Fox grabbed an 8-4 victory of Rafael Rondino and Luiz Felipe Pinto.

Marlon Brand and Yannick Born fell in No. 1 doubles, 6-8.

Born (Flight 4) and Cornea (Flight 3) won the first two battles in the singles portion of the dual.  Born defeatd Helliar, 6-3, 6-4 while Cornea topped Rodino, 6-3, 6-2, giving MT a solid 3-0 team lead.

In the first flight, UAB's David Zimmerman knocked off Davis, 6-2, 6-2, grabbing their lone singles point of the day.

Lang battled Tom Puetz in a three-set victory, 6-4, 2-6, 7-5, to put the match out of reach and seal the Blue Raider victory.

Fox cruised through his Flight 6 series over Pinto, 6-3, 6-4, while Zito battled three sets with Dirube.  Zito lost the first set 4-6, but battled back in second to win 7-6 (7-2 tie-breaker).  Zito won in the third set, 1-0 (10-4).

Middle Tennessee will face Yale on Sunday at 10 a.m., at Nashboro Village.

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