Men's Tennis Just Short in Quest for Second Consecutive Horizon League Championship Title

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Despite a promising start to singles play, the Belmont University men's tennis team came up two match wins shy of a second consecutive Horizon League Men's Tennis Championship crown Sunday in the title match at Purdue's Schwartz Tennis Center in West Lafayette, Indiana. In a battle of Horizon League divisional champions and No. 1 seeds, the Bruins (11-10) were unable to overcome a 1-0 deficit following doubles against Cleveland State and were defeated 4-2 by the fellow top-seeded Vikings (21-6).
 
Belmont raced out to a 2-1 lead by taking two of the top three singles matches but couldn't keep Cleveland State from winning courts four through six in straight sets.
 
The Vikings, champions of the league's north division, quickly got the upper hand with a 6-1 triumph at No. 3 doubles. Cleveland State's Lincoln Battle and Devin Boyer proved to be too much for senior Tomas Luis and junior Gabriel Sardo before the Vikings' top doubles duo of Carl Gedlitschka and JundeDios Abboud defeated senior Niklas von Hellens and junior Ruben Busch 6-4 for the coveted doubles point.
 
Senior Alfred Wallin and junior Ian Cruz led Cleveland State's Kade Mindry and Nico Jamison 5-4 at No. 2 doubles when the top doubles court completed their set.
 
Just like in Saturday's semifinal win, Cruz wasted very little time in ousting his opponent at No. 3 singles. Cruz gave up only three games in a 6-0, 6-3 win over Mindry and Wallin was equally impressive at No. 1 singles. Against the Horizon League Freshman of the Year, Lincoln Battle, Wallin conceded only four games in a dominant 6-0, 6-4 victory.
 
However, the Bruins needed four singles wins to clinch the match and a 6-3, 6-1 loss by Busch at No. 5 singles to Jamison evened things at 2-2.
 
After a tightly-contested 7-5 first set loss to Boyer at No. 6 singles, Sardo was bested 6-2 in the second set. Boyer's win put the Vikings up 3-2 with No. 2 and No. 4 singles still in action.
 
At the second spot, Luis blanked Cleveland State's Mikael Erler 7-0 in an opening set tiebreaker and was leading in the second set when the Vikings clinched the match. Despite dropping the first set 6-2 against Gedlitschka at No. 4 singles, von Hellens forced a second-set tiebreak. Von Hellens led 2-1 early in the breaker, but ultimately fell 7-3 as Gedlitschka secured the championship.
 
The championship match loss closes Belmont's 2024 campaign. For the third-straight year, the Bruins won a conference regular season championship after going undefeated in league play once again.
 
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