Men's Tennis Defeated 7-2 at Lake Superior State

SAULT STE. MARIE, Mich. — Michigan Tech dropped a 7-2 decision at Lake Superior State today in GLIAC men's tennis. The Huskies, without the services of one of its top players Javier Oliveros, fell behind 3-0 after doubles and could never catch up.

Four of the nine flights were decided by extremely close scores and could have gone either way. The host Lakers claimed all four including three with match-deciding tiebreakers.

At No. 1 doubles, Felipe Dos Santos and Pedro Rodriguez came up one game shy of forcing a tiebreaker in a 9-7 decision. Nick Kremkow and Built Yumuang were two points from victory at No. 2 doubles, but fell 9-8 (7-5 in the tiebreaker). Jimmy Konarske and Bryan Bartelt suffered an 8-4 setback at No. 3.

Tech, needing to win five of the six singles flights, stayed in contention for quite a while. Dos Santos earned a 6-2, 6-4 victory at No. 1. Yumuang also swept his opponent at No. 3 6-3, 6-1.

Kremkow was defeated 6-4, 6-0 at No. 4 to make the team score 4-2.

The final three matches on the courts needed to go the Huskies' way, but none did. Rodriguez rallied from a set down and had a match point before losing 6-1, 4-6, 7-6 (6) at No. 2. Konarske fell 6-2, 6-3 at No. 5. Bartelt was edged in a super tiebreaker at No. 6 by a 7-5, 3-6, 10-4 count.

"Credit Lake Superior State. They defended their home courts and earned the win," said acting coach Wes Frahm, filling in for Kevin Kalinec who was away attending to family matters. "We needed one or two of those doubles matches to fall our way, but didn't play well enough in the big points. I'm proud of how the guys battled back in singles and made it close."

Tech fell to 8-7 overall and 3-5 in the league with the loss. The Huskies will close their 2014 regular season with three home matches next weekend.