RICHMOND, Ky. -- A down to the wire battle on the road resulted in the first loss of conference season for Belmont Men's Tennis on Friday afternoon. The Bruins (8-11, 2-1 OVC) were edged at Eastern Kentucky (14-7, 3-1 OVC), 4-3.
BU handily snagged the doubles point after grabbing wins at Nos. 1 and 2. The pair of senior Cedric Dujacquier (Feluy, Belgium) and freshman Hendrik Inno (Someru, Estonia) rolled to a 6-3 win at No. 1 while the duo of junior Stephen Goldman (Lutz, Fla.) and sophomore Zak Khan (London, United Kingdom), the reigning OVC Male Player of the Week, worked to pull out a 7-6 victory at No. 2.
The Colonels came storming back in singles action, however, and took wins at both No. 1 and No. 2 in straight sets. Inno battled into a third set to come away with the first BU win on the singles side, 6-2, 4-6, 6-0. Unfortunately, EKU was able to grab wins at Nos. 4 and 5, outweighing the straight set win by senior Bruno Russo (Sao Paulo, Brazil) at No. 6, 6-4, 7-5.
Belmont returns to action on Thursday, April 13 for its final home match of the regular season. The Bruins host crosstown rival Tennessee State at Centennial Sportsplex. Match time is set for 2 p.m.