Huskies Come Up Short at Lake Superior State
SAULT STE. MARIE, Mich. – The Michigan Tech men's tennis team dropped a tough 7-0 loss at Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference rival Lake Superior State University on Saturday. The Huskies were forced to play catchup early in the match and couldn't stop the Lakers' momentum.
"Overall, I thought our guy's competed well against a good Lake Superior State team," Michigan Tech Head Coach Kevin Kalinec said. "I thought we made some progress in both singles and doubles today on the road in a difficult environment to play in. In singles we had some good performances, especially in the middle of the lineup. We will look to get better in practice this week as we prepare for two more road matches next weekend at Purdue Northwest and Davenport."
Lake Superior State (4-5, 2-2 GLIAC) grabbed the advantage over Michigan Tech (2-9, 0-4 GLIAC) Saturday with the opening point in the match coming in doubles competition. The Huskies sent senior Mario Neto and freshman Siddhesh Mahadeshwar up against Joe Gilman and Krishan Taneja in No. 1 doubles with the Lakers' duo prevailing 6-2.
Sophomore Ignacio Carbajosa and sophomore Nico Caviglia competed hard against Luis Valderrama and Diego Penz in No. 2 doubles, but after a late rally by the Lakers, came up just shy by the score of 6-4. In No. 3 doubles, senior Juan Felipe Chica and freshman Nathan Sodini battled Harris Irfan ul Haq and Ali Sahibzada, falling 6-1.
The Huskies had some solid singles performances especially in the No. 3, No.4, and No. 5 spots in the lineup. Carbajosa battled back from a tough 6-1 first set loss in No. 3 singles against Taneja to nearly even the contest, if not for a 6-4 loss in set two. Mahadeshwar went toe to toe with Diego Penz in No. 4 singles as the two players exchanged point for point in both sets. Penz had to hang on for 7-6 wins on tiebreakers in both sets.
Felipe Chica almost jumped ahead of Irfan ul Haqv in No. 5 singles, but suffered a 6-4 setback in set one followed by a 6-2 win for Irfan ul Haq in set two. In No. 1 singles, Gilman outlasted Neto 6-1, 6-1, Caviglia fell to Sahibzada 6-2, 6-1 in No. 2 singles, and Seth Pinnoo got by Sodini 6-1, 6-2 in No. 6 singles.
The Huskies are back on the road next weekend when they travel to Purdue Northwest and Davenport University for two more GLIAC matches. Saturday's first serve against the Pride is slated for 11:00 a.m. eastern time followed by a showdown with the Panthers on Sunday at 10:00 a.m. eastern time.