Mishawaka, Ind. – The Marian men's tennis team went 1-1 on the day in a Crossroads League doubleheader Wednesday. The Knights started off the day taking down Bethel 5-2, before falling to Huntington 5-2. After today's matches, Marian moves to 3-1 in conference play.
Marian 5-2 Bethel
The Knights started the day putting up a fight for the doubles point with Bethel taking the first match, as Gavin Dardeen (SO/Lafayette, Ind.) and Dmitrii Voshchenkov (SR/Moscow, Russia) dropped the match 6-1 to Jerad Bos and Garrison Miller at No. 3. At the No. 1 spot, Mark Griffin (JR/Cork, Ireland) and Andy Ilett were able to tie things up for the Knights after taking down Victor Bonserggent and Santiago Flores 6-4. With doubles even at 1-1, Jared Thomas (SR/Champaign, Ill.) and Ashwin Bhat (JR/Bangalore, India) clinched the doubles point for the Knights with a 6-3 victory over Lucca Almeida and Wes Troyer at the No. 2 spot.
With the doubles point secured, Dardeen got things rolling at No. 4 singles, defeating Troyer 2-6, 6-1, 1-0 (10-3) to put the Knights on top 2-0. Bethel picked up the next point after Griffin would suffer the 6-3, 6-7 (4-7), 1-0 (13-11) to Bonsergent at the No. 1 spot, before Armando Lopez (SR/Tlalnepantla, Mexico) defeated Almeida 4-6, 7-5, 1-0 (10-3) at the No. 3 spot to give the Knights the 3-1 lead over the Pilots. At the No. 2 spot, Flores put Bethel back within one after taking down Jones McNamar (SO/Carmel, Ind.) 6-4, 7-6 (7-5). The Knights would finish off the Pilots with a pair of wins at the No. 5 and 6 spots. Jacob Wittenbaum (SR/Montgomery, Ohio) made quick work of Garrison Miller, winning 6-2, 6-3 to clinch the match for the Knights, while Shadi Al Tori (FR/Rahat, Israel) won his match 6-2, 6-1 over Elijah Hostetler.
Marian 2-5 Huntington
In their second match of the day, the Knights fell 5-2 to Huntington. Marian got off to a good start in the doubles category with Griffin and Ilett winning 6-4 against Valentin Mussi and Augusta Agosto at the No. 1 spot, before Al Tori and Bhat took care of business at the No. 3 spot, defeating Illia Turaba and Alejo Bagnera 6-1. Lopez and Wittenbaum were ahead 6-5 in their match before the Knights clinched the first point of the match.
In singles, the Foresters took over the match, winning five of the six matches. Mateo Ameller took down Bhat at the No. 4 spot 3-6, 1-6, before Illet fell at the No. 2 spot 5-7, 3-6 to Agosto. The Knights picked up one win in singles by the hands of Griffin, who won at the No. 1 spot 7-5, 6-3, 1-0 (7-3) against Bagnera. Voshchenkov lost 6-3, 4-6, 0-1 (8-10) at the No. 3 spot to Mussi. At the No. 5 spot, McNamar was defeated by Angel Vazquez Rojas 6-0, 5-7, 0-1 (13-11) before the match finished with Turaba taking down Lopez at the No. 6 spot 7-6, 0-6, 0-1 (10-3)
Marian will be back in action September 13 at 9:30 AM and 4 PM as they host Goshen and Grace for their lone home match of the fall season.
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