Huskies Lose Hard Fought Match at Purdue Northwest
PARK FOREST, Ill. – The Michigan Tech men's tennis team suffered a 5-2 Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference loss at Purdue Northwest Saturday afternoon. The Huskies held their own against the Pride, but unfortunately some crucial points when in Purdue Northwest's direction.
"Overall, I liked the way we played today and I'm proud of the effort of our players," Michigan Tech Head Coach Kevin Kalinec said. "We missed a bit of an opportunity in doubles today, but we are still making good progress as a team. Siddhesh [Mahadeshwar] and Nathan [Sodini] came through with big singles wins for us and that was great to see. We look forward to getting back out on the court again tomorrow against a good Davenport team."
Purdue Northwest (4-8, 1-3 GLIAC) jumped ahead early in Saturday's match by recording the doubles point for a 1-0 lead. Michigan Tech (2-10, 0-5, GLIAC) had senior Mario Neto and freshman Siddhesh Mahadeshwar paired up against Moritz Gisy and Gregory Kvint in No. 1 doubles, with the final scoring landing in the Pride's favor 6-2. Sophomore's Nico Caviglia and Ignacio Carbajosa fell 6-2 in No. 2 doubles to Leon Kah and Dru Kennedy while senior Juan Felipe Chica and freshman Nathan Sodini dropped a tightly contested No.3 doubles match 6-3 to the duo of Jonluke Passett and Mauricio Villacres.
The Huskies attempted grab the momentum in singles on the strength of two wins and two other close matches. Mahadeshwar and Sodini each logged victories for Tech in the No.4 and No. 6 positions respectively. Mahadeshwar powered past Passett 6-2, 6-4 and Sodini outpaced Kennedy in three sets to record a come from behind win. Kennedy got the upper hand with a 6-4 decision in set one, but Sodini regrouped with some solid adjustments to tie the match with a 6-2 second set win followed by a 6-3 triumph in set three.
Saturday's No. 3 singles contest went three sets as well with Carbajosa facing off against Kvint. Carbajosa won the first set 7-5, but Kvint bounced back to secure victories in sets two and three with identical scores of 6-1. Neto competed hard against Gisy in No. 1 singles, but came up just short 7-6, 6-3. Kah got past Cavigilia 6-1, 6-0 in No. 2 singles and Felipe Chica lost to Villacres 6-3, 6-2 in No. 5 singles.
The Huskies will look to regroup Sunday as they travel to Davenport University for another GLIAC showdown. The first serve is scheduled for 10:00 a.m. eastern time.