CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. -- In its Ohio Valley Confernce, the Belmont Men's Tennis team (6-10) used the luck of the Irish to defeat the Austin Peay, 6-1, on Saturday.
Belmont won two doubles matches in a row to gain the doubles point and then found success in singles play as they won five out of six of the singles matches.
When asked about the win, head coach Mauricio Antun stated that it was a "good way to start our conference with a solid win. The conditions today were not easy. The wind was blowing at about 18 mph, but our guys did a good job managing their way through the match, and even though we didn't play our best tennis, we came out strong with good wins across the board."
The doubles game was cooking for Belmont, as they were able to win their matches on courts 2 and 3, leaving the match at court 1 unfinished. On court 2, Stephen Goldman and Zak Khan defeated Jacob Lorino / Christian Alvin Edison 6-2, and David Faulkner and Vincent Sterkens defeated Chad Woodham / Timo Kiesslich 6-2 on court 3.
That St. Patrick's Day luck continued for the Bruins as they were able to win the majority of their singles matches.
Hendrik Inno had to power through three sets of tennis on court 1 before finally winning his match in the third set. After winning the first set 6-4, he gave up the second set to his opponent, Almantas Ozelis. Inno was then able to persevere and win the final set, 6-4.
On court 2, Marko Ilic also had to grind out three sets of tennis before earning his win, except he had to win it in a closely contested tiebreaker. Like Inno on court one, Ilic won his first set but then lost the second set against Christian Alvin Edison. After the two of them tied in the third set, Ilic and Edison had to battle it out in a tiebreaker, but Ilic was able to get the upper hand and win the tiebreaker 11-9.
On court 6, David Faulkner was able to win his match in two sets, but his second set was a nail bitter. After winning his first set 6-2, the freshman had to battle through a tough second set but was able to defeat his opponent, Chad Woodham, 7-6.
Both Vincent Sterkens and Goldman were able to win in two sets in simple fashion. Sterkens on court 3 won his match 6-3, 6-2, and Goldman on court 5 won his match 6-2, 6-0.
Khan on court 4 was the only player to lose his singles match for Belmont. After playing through three sets, he lost in a tightly contested tiebreaker to Timo Kiesslich, 10-8.
Belmont's next match will be another non-conference match, taking on Alabama A&M on Saturday, March 24, at Centennial Sportsplex.
