Photo by Anthony Fiorella / Sidelines Archives
Story by Nathan Vaughan / Contributing Writer
The Middle Tennessee tennis teams were both in action on Saturday, as they continue their push toward the postseason. The men were in Wichita, Kansas, to take on the Wichita State Shockers, while the women were in Fort Myers, Florida, to play Florida Gulf Coast University.
Men’s tennis uses solid play in singles, doubles domination to defeat Shockers
MTSU opened the match with a strong showing in doubles play. Tom Moonen and Chris Edge added to their record (now standing at 9-1), and showed their prowess as the 48th-ranked doubles team in the nation. Gonzalo Morell Raschiatore and Miguel Negre Fernandez continued their undefeated start to the season with a win of their own, giving Middle Tennessee the doubles point heading into singles play.
The Blue Raiders collected their ninth win of the season with four singles wins out of six matches. Moonen fought for his win with a three-set victory by a score of 7-6, 4-6, 13-11 in the first spot. Morell took his match in the second spot in straight sets 6-2, 6-4, moving his record to 10-1 on the season.
Gian Issa stayed unbeaten as well, with a 7-6, 6-2 at the fifth spot, while Luis Morillo Diaz clinched the match with a dominant 6-2, 6-1. This moves the Blue Raiders to 9-2 on the season and 3-1 on the road. They will return home to play the Wisconsin Badgers, likely the toughest match of the season for MTSU. They will do battle with the Badgers at 10 a.m. on Sunday at the Adams Tennis Complex.
Women win doubles point, but ultimately fall in after rough singles section
The women’s team opened up their match with FGCU with two victories in the doubles portion to take the early lead. Costanza Maggazzini and Marta Paris Herrero won by a 6-1 count, while Lee Barnard and Maria Josefina Zehnder won 6-3.
Singles play as a much different story however, as the Eagles won all but one of the matches en route to a 5-2 victory. Kim Kermet was the only Raider to win, as she took a victory in straight sets by a score of 6-3, 6-3. The loss moves the team to 7-4 on the season, second in Conference USA behind Old Dominion.
They will be back in action at the ATC on Friday, as they will play host to the Chattanooga Lady Mocs at 5 p.m. They will follow that up with a match against the Tulane Green Wave on Sunday at 1:30 p.m.
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