Conference USA’s men’s tennis champions donned blue and white once again as Middle Tennessee took home the crown on Easter Sunday.
The Blue Raiders lifted the trophy for the sixth-straight year, taking down Liberty 4-0 in the championship. After putting out the Flames in the finals for the second consecutive season, Middle Tennessee heads to the NCAA Tournament and looks to advance past the first weekend for the first time in program history.
Without further delay, here’s everything that happened across Blue Raider sports over the weekend. Brett Walker
Men’s tennis claims sixth-straight CUSA championship
Head coach Jimmy Borendame and Middle Tennessee men’s tennis sit atop Conference USA once more.
With two 4-0 sweeps over the weekend, the Blue Raiders finished their domination of CUSA for the sixth straight year while punching another ticket to the NCAA Tournament.
Middle Tennessee (16-11) began its CUSA Tournament run in Lynchburg, Virginia, against the Kennesaw State Owls (8-10) in the semifinals.
The Blue Raiders took off in doubles play, as Shu Matsuoka and Igor Mandou Berranger made quick work of Sam Baldwin and Erik Vladimirov, 6-2. Karim Al-Amin and Ondrej Horak clinched the doubles point in tiebreak fashion, as they defeated Mikolaj Lis and Anthony Weingarten 7-6 (7-4).
Singles was a breeze for MTSU, as it picked up three quick victories over the Owls. Horak won his match by forfeit, as Weingarten retired due to injury after dropping the first set 6-0. Al-Amin picked up a win on court one 6-2, 6-2 over Lis, and Jakub Kroslak clinched the match on court three as he topped Vladimirov 6-2, 6-2.
In the championship game, the Blue Raiders matched up with the tournament host Liberty Flames (11-13), whom they defeated 4-0 for the CUSA title six-peat.
Doubles started out in favor of the Flames, as Joaquim Almeida and Siwanat Auytayakul took down Horak and Al-Amin on court one 6-4. This marked the only match the Blue Raiders dropped in the tournament.
MTSU bounced back to take the doubles point, as Matsuoka and Berranger picked up a 6-3 win on three over Ernst Gouws and Matija Samardzic, while Rostislav Halfinger and Kroslak clinched the point with a 7-5 win over Carl Roothman and Trey Stinchcomb.
With the doubles point under their belt, the Blue Raiders ran away with it in singles. Kroslak dominated on court three, defeating Auytayakul 6-3, 6-2. Horak knocked down Roothman on court two with a 6-1, 6-4 win, and Al-Amin clinched MTSU’s sixth-straight conference championship with a 6-3, 7-5 win on court one over Almeida.
With the championship win, the Blue Raiders clinch a spot in the NCAA Tournament. Borendame and his crew await the bracket release to see who they match up with next. The regional round of the tournament is set to take place between May 2-4. Willie Phaler
Women’s tennis falls to LA Tech in CUSA semifinals
Louisiana Tech cut Middle Tennesse’s postseason run short in the CUSA tournament semifinals.
No. 2 seed MTSU started the tournament against No. 7 seed Jacksonville State. This match marked the second meeting of the season between the Blue Raiders and Gamecocks with MTSU claiming a 4-2 victory during the regular season.
Come postseason time, the Blue Raiders carried over their regular season result and steamrolled Jacksonville State. The Blue Raiders blew past the Gamecocks during the doubles point with Cassidy Mataia and Ilaria Sposetti claiming a 6-4 win and the pairing of Eloise Swarbrick and Lena Peyer clinching the doubles point with a 6-3 victory.
The Blue Raiders cranked up the intensity come singles and claimed three straight set wins on courts one, two and four. With this 4-0 victory the Blue Raiders advanced to the CUSA semifinals to face Louisiana Tech.
Middle Tennessee and Louisiana Tech began the semifinal matchup with a highly competitive doubles point. Louisiana Tech claimed court three, only for the Blue Raiders to bounce back with Alessia Truden and Rutuja Chaphalkar claiming a 6-2 court one victory.
With the doubles point left in the balance on court two, LA Tech’s Ana Rodrigues and Zoie Epps defeated Peyer and Swarbrick 6-4.
MTSU struggled to find success in singles with the lone singles win coming from Peyer in straight sets 7-6, 6-2. The Bulldogs claimed victories on court two, four and six to defeat the Blue Raiders with a final score of 4-1.
Despite the season’s end, Middle Tennessee (16-9) finished with the team’s best record since the 2017-18 season. Will Phillips
Softball drops home series to Jax State
Middle Tennessee softball (22-24, 10-11 CUSA) took one game in its series against conference opponent Jacksonville State (30-18, 12-9 CUSA).
On Thursday, the Blue Raiders’ offense had a big day with a 9-7 win against the Gamecocks. First baseman Ava Tepe opened the scoring for MTSU with a double, as Ava Brooks scored to tie the game at one after an early score by Jacksonville State. Outfielder Addy Edgmon quickly added three runs to the total as she hit a home run to give Middle Tennessee a 4-1 lead.
The Gamecocks responded with one run in the third inning as outfielder Emma Elrod scored to cut the lead to two. Then, in the bottom of the inning, Julia Garcia hit a three-run home run for Middle Tennessee as it took a 7-2 lead.
Over the next couple of innings, Jacksonville State scored four runs to make it a one-run game with a score of 7-6. In the bottom of the sixth, Edgmon once again came up big for the Blue Raiders as she hit her second home run of the night with a two-run shot that won the game for Middle Tennessee 9-7.
On Friday, the Gamecocks run ruled the Blue Raiders 12-2 in five innings. Jacksonville State’s offense came alive in the second game of the series as it generated 14 hits on the night, while Middle Tennessee struggled in the pitcher’s circle.
In the last game of the series, the Gamecocks took the rubber match with a 5-3 win. Jacksonville State scored first with two solo home runs off pitcher Leila Ammon as it took a 2-0 lead. In the bottom of the first, catcher Ansley Blevins hit a fly ball to the outfield as Edgmon tagged up before scoring the first run for the Blue Raiders.
The Gamecocks then added one run in the fourth inning to extend the lead to two, until Blevins hit a single and scored Edgmon and Tepe to tie the game 3-3 in the fifth inning.
In the top of the seventh inning, first baseman Kailey Martin drove in two runs for the Gamecocks as they took a two-run lead. The Blue Raiders couldn’t get anything going offensively in their last at-bat as Jacksonville State claimed the victory 5-3.
Next up for Middle Tennessee is an in-state road trip to face Tennessee State University in Nashville on Tuesday at 5:00 p.m. David Cassman
Baseball gives WKU first home loss, drops series
Middle Tennessee baseball (18-22, 4-11 Conference USA) dropped two of three in a weekend series against rival Western Kentucky (33-7, 11-4 CUSA).
To begin the 100 Miles of Hate series, the Blue Raiders fell 9-5 to the Hilltoppers on Thursday.
MTSU jumped out to a 3-0 lead in its first two trips to the plate, thanks to a Brett Vondohlen two-run home run and an RBI on a fielder’s choice from Eston Snider.
Western Kentucky tied it up in the bottom of the second, with a three-run home run from Austin Haller off of MTSU’s Colin Kerrigan.
The Blue Raiders grabbed the lead again in the fifth on an RBI double from Tyler Minnick that scored Snider. WKU came right back in the bottom half with a triple from Kyle Hayes that scored Ryan Wideman.
Snider picked up his second hit of the day in the sixth with an RBI double that put MTSU up 5-4.
The Hilltoppers rattled off a four-run eighth inning to take a commanding lead. Hayes and Thomas Marsala both hit solo home runs against Will Jenkins, before knocking him out of the game for Cole Torbett. WKU’s bats found success against Torbett as well, as Joe Siervo sent a single to left to pick up two runs. Siervo later scored in the inning on a wild pitch to add another insurance run.
The Blue Raiders dominated in game two, handing the Hilltoppers their first home loss of the season in a 10-3 win.
Hayden Miller led the way with a 3-5 day that included a two-run home run and an RBI double.
WKU got the scoring started in the first, with Marsala scoring on an error from Clay Badylak at third.
The Blue Raiders then rattled off 10 unanswered runs between the third and seventh innings. Badylak, Vondohlen and Miller all had multiple RBIs in the hot stretch for MTSU.
Drew Horn held the Hilltopper bats to four hits across five innings in a magnificent start for the redshirt sophomore, as he struck out five while allowing only one run.
Ollie Akens picked up the save in four innings of relief. WKU pushed two across against Akens, including a solo home run from Hayes and an RBI single from Carlos Vasquez.
WKU took the rubber match of the series in dominant fashion, as it downed MTSU 9-1.
Chandler Alderman made the start for the Blue Raiders, and it was a shaky one. Over 4.1 innings, WKU tagged the sophomore lefty for six runs (five earned).
Western Kentucky silenced the Middle Tennessee offense after a big day by Drew Whalen. Across seven innings, the right-hander scattered five hits while allowing only one run on an RBI single by MTSU’s Cooper Clapp.
The trio of Ethan Imbimbo, Torbett and Jonny Stevens provided MTSU with 3.2 innings while allowing one earned run (three total).
After dropping the series to the Hilltoppers, the Blue Raiders sit ninth in CUSA with a 4-11 record in league play. MTSU will have a midweek battle with No. 19 Vanderbilt (30-10, 11-7 SEC) in Nashville on Tuesday, and then travel to New Mexico for a three-game weekend set with New Mexico State (19-21, 7-8 CUSA). Willie Phaler
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