Middle Tennessee men’s tennis (7-2) delivered a 4-2 victory over Louisville (9-4) on Military Appreciation Night, with commanding performances from Karim Al-Amin and Birtan Duran securing the Blue Raiders’ statement win at home. 

The Blue Raiders fell to Louisville last season, but bounced back this time around, winning two of three doubles matches and three singles matches to secure the win over the Cardinals. 

“They beat us last year and that stuck with us, and we practiced this week for it, and it was a great feeling to beat them this time around,” assistant coach Josh McDermott said. 

 The Blue Raiders’ No. 18 duo of Karim Al-Amin and Ondrej Horak started off slow in their set against the Cardinals but thundered back to win 6-2. The real showing in doubles came from Eric Crivei and Jonasz Dziopak, who won their set 6-1 in decisive fashion, that gave the Blue Raiders the first point of the day. 

The Blue Raiders fought through adversity in singles, as four matches went into a third set. Freddy Murray lost his first set 6-3, but fought back, even coming back from a 3-0 deficit in the second set to win his match. Horak struggled in singles play, losing his match 6-3, 4-6, 3-6. 

Duran and Al-Amin were stars in singles play winning their games in just two sets. Duran jumped to a 3-1 lead in the second set before losing the next three games before completing his victory.  

 With a multitude of new players on the roster this year, the Blue Raiders have experienced growing pains. However, as the season progresses, the Blue Raiders continue to grow as a team. 

“The energy was great,” McDermott said. “Everyone was playing as a team and playing for each other, which was awesome. A lot of news faces it took some trial and error over the fall and over the break. When we got back, we just had to try different pairs and see what worked.”

The Blue Raiders head to Stillwater, Oklahoma, on Sunday, Feb. 15 at 11:00 a.m. CST, to take on the Oklahoma State Cowboys. 

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