MUNCIE, Ind. - - Belmont University men's tennis concluded its road trip in Indiana with a tough loss, 5-2, against Ball State on Sunday.
The outcome came down to the third set of the final two singles matches.
Belmont gained the doubles point for the second match in a row, but only secured one singles point amidst fiercely-contested play.
"We had chances in both matches this weekend, and we didn't capitalize them," Belmont head coach Mauricio Antun said. "Our inexperience is definitely showing on the big moments of the match right now, and we need to take those losses as a learning opportunity for our next couple of matches. The season is only starting, but I feel like we did play better in the second match, and our doubles team is starting to work better."
Hendrik Inno and Marko Ilic won their doubles match against Nemanja Guzina and Thibault De Negri at the 1 position 7-6. The duo also won at IUPUI.
Inno carried the momentum into singles, defeating De Negri, 6-4, 6-4. Inno is now 3-0 in singles this spring season.
After earning a doubles win, Zak Khan then had a very competitive singles match against Conner Andersen. Khan spilt the first two sets, but lost a highly-competitive third-set tiebreak.
At the 6 position, freshman David Faulkner had a good back and forth first set against Bryce Bonin before falling 7-6. He then lost the second set 6-2.
Jake Briggs and Vincent Sterkens just couldn't find a rhythm, falling in straight sets.
Belmont (0-3) will return to Centennial Sportsplex in Nashville this weekend as they will face off against UTSA January 27 at 4:00 PM and then against Gardner-Webb January 28 at 11:30 AM.
