Men's Tennis Wins Third Straight, Defeats UAB 4-3 on the Road Sunday

HOOVER, Ala. – Winning its third straight, the Belmont University men's tennis team closed the weekend with a gritty, 4-3 road victory at the University of Alabama at Birmingham Sunday afternoon at the Hoover Met Tennis Complex in Hoover, Alabama. Senior Tomas Luis provided the Bruins (6-7) with the winning point at No. 2 singles, claiming back-to-back tiebreakers for the Easter Day victory.
 
Convincing wins at second and third doubles gave Belmont the all-important doubles point and a 1-0 lead before the two teams split the six singles matches.
 
With the score even at three points apiece, Luis prevailed against the Blazers' Vojtech Podzemny 7-6, 7-6 on court two. Luis won the opening set tiebreaker by the narrowest of margins, 11-9, and took the second set tiebreaker 7-2.
 
UAB (9-10) had tied up the match with a three-set win at No. 5 singles. The Blazers' Juan Pablo Valdez got past senior Niklas von Hellens 6-1, 3-6, 6-1 at the fifth spot after UAB's Carlos Gimenez Perez bested senior Alfred Wallin 6-3, 6-4 at No. 1 singles.
 
Trailing 3-0, UAB got its first singles win at the fourth position where Noah Malige overcame a 6-4 first set loss to redshirt junior Diego Castro and won sets two and three 6-1, 6-2.
 
Junior Gabriel Sardo was first off the court as he dispatched the Blazers' Kaustubh Holcomb 6-3, 6-2 at No. 6 singles. Fellow junior Ian Cruz collected the Bruins' third point of the afternoon with a 7-6 (4), 6-1 win over UAB's Ondrej Valek at the third spot.
 
In doubles, the tandem of Cruz and Wallin defeated Gimenez Perez and Pablo Valdez 6-2 at the third position to secure the doubles point. At No. 2 doubles, Castro and Luis took care of Malige and Valek, 6-3. The Blazers won at the top doubles spot with Parker Bradbary and Georgios Nouchakis handling junior Ruben Busch and von Hellens 6-1.
 
Up Next
Belmont travels to the opposite end of Belmont Boulevard Thursday afternoon to take on nearby rival Lipscomb. First serve of the non-conference match is slated for 1 p.m. from the Huston-Marsh-Griffith Tennis Center in Nashville. Next weekend, the Bruins head to Eastern Illinois Saturday and visit Lindenwood Sunday.
 
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