NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The Belmont University men's tennis team won its first Battle of the Boulevard match of the season, defeating Lipscomb 4-3 on Friday night at the Richland Country Club.
"This was a great team win today," Director of Tennis Mauricio Antun said. "I was so proud of the guys and how they competed the entire match in every spot. It's tough to win every match when you play a good team like Lipscomb, but I felt like our depth really showed today. We played much better doubles than last weekend and Lipscomb came out really strong at the top of their lineup."
With two tightly contested wins from doubles teams of Marko Ilic/Taisei Miyamoto and Diego Castro/Tomas Luis, Belmont quickly earned the first point of the match. After Lipscomb tied it up with its first singles win of the match, Arthur Toledo claimed his second singles victory of the season to help Belmont regain the team advantage 2-1.
Lipscomb took the match lead thanks to singles victories in the No. 1 and No. 3 spots and looked to claim the match, with its No. 5 and No. 6 spots leading 3-2 each. Castro and fellow freshman Alfred Wallin, however, climbed from behind to claim their individual victories and give Belmont the final two team points to take the match.
"I'm very happy for our freshmen to be in a situation where we were down 3-2 and they played like they had been in that situation several times," Antun said. "We will enjoy this one, but we need to get ready for another tough match on Sunday."
Belmont will play its home opener on Sunday at 11 a.m. against North Alabama at Hadley Park in Nashville.
Belmont 4, Lipscomb 3
Singles competition
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Caffarena (LIP) def. Ilic (BELM) 6-4, 6-3
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Toledo (BELM) def. Ortegon (LIP) 6-3, 6-4
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Bogdanovich (LIP) def. Miyamoto (BELM) 7-5, 6-3
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Uribe (LIP) def. Luis (BELM) 6-4, 6-1
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Castro (BELM) def. Garcia-Nieto (LIP) 6-3, 6-3
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Wallin (BELM) def. Penny (LIP) 6-1, 6-2
Doubles competition
1. Ilic/Miyamoto (BELM) def. Ortegon/Uribe (LIP) 7-6 (4-0)
2. Castro/Luis (BELM) def. Garcia-Nieto/Penny (LIP) 7-5
3. Caffarena/Bogdanovich (LIP) def. Toledo/Briggs (BELM) 7-5
