PADUCAH, Ky. – In their first trip to the OVC Tournament Final, the Belmont men's tennis team could not climb out of an early deficit and fell to Austin Peay 4-1 in a match played Sunday afternoon at the Heflin Tennis Center in Paducah, Kentucky.
The Governors took an early 1-0 lead as they captured two of the three doubles matches. At number three, Aleksas Tverijonas and John Storie beat Bruno Silva and Henrik Claesson 8-3. Then, APSU clinched the doubles point as Sean Bailey and Jasmin Ademovic won at number one over Renato Antun and Henrique Norbiato 8-6.
In singles, Austin Peay took a 3-0 lead on the Bruins as they picked up wins at positions four and five. At four, Aleksas Tverijonas beat Bruno Silva 6-4, 7-5. Then at number five, John Storie defeated Henrik Claesson 6-3, 6-4. Belmont cut the lead to 3-1 when Henrique Norbiato won at number two over Jasmin Ademovic 6-3, 6-4. However, APSU's Dimitar Ristovski outlasted Fernando Mussolini 6-4, 7-5 at number three to clinch the 4-1 match victory and OVC title for the Governors.
Sunday's match wraps up the season for the Bruins. They finish the season with an overall record of 9-15, 5-4 in the OVC.
