Featured photo by Brett Walker
Story by Brett Walker
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MURFREESBORO, Tenn- Middle Tennessee men’s tennis (14-7) swept the day in its Sunday doubleheader. MTSU defeated No. 29 Louisville (11-5) 4-0 and prevailed 7-0 against Tennessee Tech (0-7).
Sunday’s matches provided MTSU with its first opportunity to play at the newly constructed Outdoor Tennis Facility. Despite a chilly wind and the temperature dipping close to the 50-degree minimum, the Blue Raiders came out hot.
Middle Tennessee surged past Louisville in doubles. Shu Matsuoka and Igor Mandou Berranger won 6-3 while the pair of Javier Cueto Ramos and Marcel Kamrowski triumphed 6-2. For head coach Jimmy Borendame, stealing the doubles point from the No. 29 team in the country was a relief.
At one point in the match, the Blue Raiders were up a break on all three courts in doubles. Borendame felt that the early advantage was crucial to winning the match.
“We were rocking and rolling on all three courts,” Borendame said. “It kind of made me feel really good because we knew (Louisville) were good at their top three singles spots. So, to have that edge going into singles was huge.”
The aforementioned Berranger is a standout from Sunday’s doubleheader. The freshman from Eaubonne, France has seen limited action this spring but makes the most of his opportunities. Berranger’s outing included the 6-3 doubles victory against Louisville and a 6-0, 6-0 sweep of Adam Cward from Tennessee Tech.
“Igor is a phenomenal player. He had a great fall (season) as well,” Borendame said. “Over winter break, he got pretty sick over break back home, and he had kind of a slow start getting going. Also, freshman typically are a little volatile with their level. One day they’re here, one day they’re there. You know, they miss a study hall session and they get an earful from me. But, he’s coming into his own, he’s a heck of a player. He moves extremely well, is very athletic and I think outdoors is a little bit more his speed. So, I think we’re going to start seeing a lot more of Igor, which is huge because it’s going to help his game and obviously, he’s helping us on the court.”
Despite the compliments from his head coach, Berranger knows that he hasn’t reached his full potential. His focus remains on improving the intricacies of his game.
“I think I can improve by being focused on the full match, like sometimes you know it’s easy and other times I let up some points,” Berranger said. “Otherwise, it was very good. Maybe my volley, I can improve my volley, but otherwise it was a good match.”
While Berranger may be a highlight from Sunday, the Blue Raiders were solid across the board on the day. MTSU only dropped one doubles game and three singles sets across both matches. The final score makes it look easy for Middle Tennessee, however that was not the case across every match.
Specifically, freshman Jakub Kroslak was heavily tested. Against the Louisville Cardinals, Kroslak lost his first singles set to Kosuke Nakanishi 7-6. That match ultimately went unfinished. When Kroslak began his match against Davids Spaks of Tennessee Tech, however, he dropped the first set 7-6 (5). Shortly after, Borendame came over to Kroslak between points to light a fire under his first-year player.
“I saw a couple of the set points that he had through the screen (windscreen) watching against Louisville,” Borendame said. “One of the things we’re constantly pushing to him is that he’s got to start coming forward more to the net. He’s 6’4, and he’s not the fastest of all guys in the world. And then he’s got to start playing more vertical instead of lateral, and so we’ve been talking about and talking about it.”
Borendame’s fiery exchange with Kroslak gave new life to the Poland native. After losing the first set, Kroslak rebounded and blasted Spaks in the second set 6-0. The reinvigorated Kroslak then swiftly handled his Golden Eagle foe in the tiebreaker 10-4.
After poor weather previously thwarted the team’s plans to play at the new facility, the decision was made to play outdoors a mere 90 minutes before the scheduled start time. While the weather may have been cool, the teams trudged on in what became a historic day for Borendame and MTSU tennis.
“It was really pretty special, you know it was kind of hit or miss all the way up until an hour and a half before when they finally made the call that we were going to play outside, which was huge,” Borendame said. “You know, I had mixed feelings on what was better for the team, but when the rule came back that it was just over 50 (degrees) we had to be out here. The guys embraced it, and I didn’t know if they were going to come out with a little bit of nervous energy, or excitement energy, and they came out firing.”
Brett Walker is a sportswriter for MTSU Sidelines. For more news, visit www.mtsusidelines.com. Also, follow us on Facebook and Instagram @mtsusidelines, or on X @MTSUSidelines.
