Huskies Fall in Season Opener against Belmont Abbey
HILTON HEAD, S.C. – The Michigan Tech men's tennis team opened the 2018 season on Saturday at the Spring Tennis Fest in Hilton Head, South Carolina, falling 8-1 to Belmont Abbey.
"We have a young team that played hard today," Michigan Tech Head Coach Kevin Kalinec said. "We have players who can really hit the ball, but we still have some work to do. We are looking forward to getting back out on the court Tuesday."
Michigan Tech's (0-1) point in Saturday's match came in doubles competition with Mario Neto and Ignacio Carbajosa teaming up to top the duo of Zachary Blythe and Henrique Leal 8-3. Nico Caviglia and Simon Xiong nearly captured a second point for the Huskies in doubles, but came up just short 9-8 to Reinaldo Golindano and Jose Disotuar.
In singles, two of the six contests went into tiebreakers. In No. 3 singles, Neto battled back from a 6-3 loss to force a tiebreaker with a 7-6 victory in the second set. Unfortunately, he came up short 10-7 in the deciding frame to Golindano. In No. 5 singles competition, Juan Felipe Chica rallied from a 6-0 loss in the first set to top Lorenzo Lopes 6-2 in the second to force a deciding third set. However, Lopes prevailed 10-8 to secure the point for Belmont Abbey (6-11).
The Huskies will have the next two days off before taking on West Liberty on Tuesday at 11 a.m. Tech will also play Kutztown and Charleston on Wednesday and Thursday respectively to close out the Spring Tennis Fest.