Mount Vernon, Ohio – The Marian men's tennis team was back in action Saturday, as the team made the long trip to Mt. Vernon Nazarene to compete in a Crossroads League doubleheader between the Cougars and No. 3 Indiana Wesleyan. Coach Steve Mackell's squad started the day off with a 5-1 win over the Cougars, but the Knights were unable to come away with a sweep as they fell to Indiana Wesleyan 4-3.
Marian 6-1 Mt. Vernon Nazarene
The Knights had no problem with their first opponent of the day, making quick work of the Cougars. Max Sternberg and Jake Giles got the Knights rolling at the No.1 doubles spot, defeating Ben Kindberg and Clayton Amburgy 6-0. Jared Thomas and Ashwin Bhat clinched the doubles point for Marian after a 6-1 vicotry over Andrew Hare and Carter Jones at the No.1 spot. At the No. 2 spot, the match went unfished as the Knights already secured the doubles point, but Isaac Lian and Gavin Dardeen were ahead 5-1 over Ryan Wolfe and Noah Hill.
Singles were a similar story for Marian, picking up five of the six matches. Jacob Wittenbaum was the first to pick up a win for the Knights at the No. 2 spot, taking down Andrew Hare 6-1, 6-0, while Giles picked up the win at the No. 4 spot after winning 6-0, 6-2 over Amburgy. At the No. 1 spot, Dardeen clinched the win for the Knights, defeating Kindberg 6-1, 7-5, before Lian made quick work at the No. 6 spot, blanking Hill 6-0, 6-0. Rounding out singles play for Marian were Max Sternberg making quick work of Ryan Wolfe 6-1, 6-0 at the No. 5 spot, while Thomas fell at the No. 3 spot to Jones 6-4, 7-6 (7-3).
Marian 3-4 Indiana Wesleyan
The Knights and Wildcats battled for every point in Marian's second match of the day, beginning with doubles. Marian took the first match in the partnered matches with Shadi Al Tori and Jona Henze winning 6-4 at No. 3 doubles. They were unsuccessful at No. 1 doubles as Mark Griffin and Andrew Ilett were defeated by a 6-3 score, leveling the match score at 1-1. The No. 2 doubles pair of Armando Lopez and Wittenbaum fought at No. 2 doubles looking to give Marian the point, but were defeated in a tiebreaker, as they fell 7-6.
In singles, the Knights dropped the first match at No. 1, as Griffin lost to Isaac Steiner with 6-3, 6-1 set scores. The Wildcats took the next point claiming a win at No. 4, with Trey Thixton downing Dmitrii Voshchenkov 6-1, 0-6, 1-0 (10-4). Marian would rebound with a win at No. 2 singles, as Henze claimed a 6-3, 6-4 victory to score Marian's first point.
The Knights rallied at No. 6 as Ashwin Bhat won his match for the team's second point as he picked up a critical win. At No. 5 singles, Marian continued their rally, evening the match score as Jones McNamar earned a win at No. 5 singles over Conner Murphy.
With the match tied, eyes turned back to the play of Ilett at No. 3 singles. Ilett won his first set in a 7-6 (2) tiebreaker, but fell in the second set by a 6-3 score. In the third set tiebreaker, Ilett was unable to hold onto the win, as he lost 10-4, allowing Indiana Wesleyan to claim the 4-3 victory.
Marian will be back in action as they host their lone home match of the fall season on September 13, as they take on Goshen College at 9:30 AM and Grace at 4 PM.
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