DANVILLE, Ill. —The Belmont Men's Tennis Team (9-10, 2-0 OVC) found more success in OVC play, shutting out Eastern Illinois (4-15, )on the road Friday.
The match was relocated from Charleston, Ill., to an indoor facility in Danville due to weather, and the Bruins were able to take the change in stride. They have now won both of their OVC matches and have extended their winning streak to four.
"Another good team win," said head coach Mauricio Antun. "We started off pretty slow in doubles and almost lost that point, but the guys realized they needed to start better in singles, and they played a lot better, so I am pleased with the way we reacted to a bad start."
When asked about the four match winning streak, Coach Antun said, "It is a great feeling to have won four in a row. It gives us a lot of confidence going into some of our most important conference matches. Now we need to have a good week of practice and focus on Eastern Kentucky."
As Coach Antun said, the Bruins did struggle a little bit in doubles play, but that didn't stop them from winning the first point of the match. David Faulkner and Vincent Sterkens on court 3 had a tough match, but they were able to get out of it with a 7-5 win. On court 1 and 2, both matches went into a tiebreaker, and after Stephen Goldman and Zak Khan lost in the tiebreaker on court 2, it was up to Hendrik Inno and Marko Ilić to get it done on court 1, and they were able to do just that. Inno and Ilić were able to win their tiebreaker 8-6 against Gage Kingsmith and Jared Woodson to win the doubles point for the Bruins.
After that, BU was able to settle down, and take cared of business in singles play, winning all six of their matches in pretty convincing fashion.
On court 1, Inno had to go into a third set against Freddie O'Brien but was able to win the final set 6-2. On court 2, Ilić had a dominating singles performance against Grant Reiman, winning both sets 6-1. On court 3, Sterkens also had a dominating performance, winning both sets 6-2 against Logan Charbonneau.
On court 4, Khan joined Ilic and Sterkens in recording a dominating singles performance, winning his match against Kingsmith, 6-2, 6-1. On court 5, Goldman won against Trent Reiman in two sets, 6-4, 6-3. On court 6, Faulkner was also able to win in two sets, beating Kaiser Kuroki, 6-2, 6-3.
The Bruins will return to Nashville for their next match, as they will face Eastern Kentucky on Friday, April 6 at Centennial Sportsplex.
