Featured photo by Bill Lickman
Story by Dixon Riggins
The Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders men’s tennis team opened the 2023-24 season in Destin, Florida, with the TOPS’L Battle of the Beach Collegiate Tennis Invitational.
Freshmen Kristian Thomas and Igor Mandou Berranger made their Blue Raider debuts along with sophomore New Orleans transfer Karim Al-Amin. The three newcomers totaled three singles wins and Al-Amin logged two doubles wins with partner Shu Matsuoka, the one returning player from last year’s team to participate in the tournament.
On Friday, the Blue Raiders got off to a hot start in singles against Tulane, taking three of the four matches with victories from Matsuoka (6-4, 6-1), Berranger (6-1, 6-4), and Thomas (6-1, 6-4). However, doubles struggled, coming up short in both matches by a score of 8-5 to Georgia State’s doubles.
“It was my first match as a Blue Raider and I wanted to win this match because it was my first college match,” Berranger said. “My emotions were negative sometimes, but after coach gave me advice about it, I corrected it in the next match.”
On Saturday, the Blue Raiders struggled mightily, losing all four singles matches to Georgia State. They split the two doubles matches against Florida State, with Al-Amin and Matsuoka notching an 8-4 victory.
Al-Amin and Matsuoka carried that momentum into Sunday with an 8-6 victory over Tulane’s doubles. Sunday also proved to be another tough outing for the MTSU’s singles, with Florida State taking three of the four matches. However, Berranger provided the lone singles victory, giving him two in his opening weekend as a Blue Raider.
“We’re still in those early phases and we have a lot to work on,” MTSU head coach Jimmy Borendame said. “It was a nice challenge to put the guys in some environments that we’re probably not going to see much this year and take guys out of their comfort zone and see what they can do.”
Dixon Riggins is a sports reporter for MTSU Sidelines. For more news, visit www.mtsusidelines.com. Also, follow us on Facebook and Instagram @mtsusidelines, or on X @MTSUSidelines.
