Featured Photo by Bill Lickman
Story by Samuel Demonbreun
Murfreesboro, TN – 21st-ranked Middle Tennessee falls to Oklahoma State 4-3, Friday at the Adams Tennis Complex.
With the loss, the Blue Raiders fell to 8-2, and the Cowboys improve to 7-2.
The Blue Raiders came into Friday’s match No. 21 in the nation and undefeated at home, while the Cowboys rode into Murfreesboro coming off a 4-3 win over the University of Washington.
Pavel Motl and Stijn Slump were on the board first as they handled Chase Ferguson and Alex Garcia, 6-4 and No. 23 ranked doubles pair, Oskar Brostrom Poulsen and Francisco Rocha’s dominance would end at the hands of Oklahoma State’s Isaac Becroft and Tyler Zink, 6-4.
After going down early, Freshman pair Ondrej Horak and Shu Matsuoka would take the game to tiebreak to decide the doubles point.
“Let’s Go Blue” chants rained down on the pair as they outlasted Leighton Allen and Francisco Pini, 7-6 (7-5 Tiebreak) to secure the doubles point for MTSU.
Horak kept it going for the Blue Raiders putting them up 2-0, as he cruised to a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Alex Garcia.
Oklahoma State evened the score 2-2, on the backs of Francisco Pini and Tyler Zink. Pini would defeat Marcel Kamrowski 6-4, 6-4 and Zink would upset #122 Francisco Rocha 7-6 (7-2 tiebreak), 6-0.
Pavel Motl put the Blue Raiders ahead 3-2, as he defeated Alessio Basile 7-6 (7-3 tiebreak), 6-4.
Oklahoma State’s Isacc Becroft kept his team alive with win against #91 Oskar Brostrom Poulsen 6-3, 6-7 (8-10 tiebreak), 3-6.
Tied at 3-3, the match would come down to No. 80 Stijn Slump in the third set against Chase Ferguson.
Ferguson stunned the crowd and beat Slump 5-7 in the third set to give Oklahoma State its biggest win of the season.
“Guys battled but credit to Oklahoma State,” MTSU head coach Jimmy Borendame said. “We have to play to win. Also, at home, we did a poor job of engaging our great home crowd. We will work things on Saturday to get ready for a tough SMU team.”
Looking forward the Blue Raiders will host a doubleheader against SMU and Austin Peay Sunday at the Adams Tennis Complex.
Samuel Demonbreun is a sports reporter for MTSU Sidelines. If you have information for a story, you can contact him at [email protected].
