NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The Tennessee Tech tennis team dropped its second match in two days, falling on Sunday to Middle Tennessee State, 6-1. On Saturday, the Golden Eagles opened their dual match schedule with a loss at No. 39 Vanderbilt.
Middle Tennessee won the doubles point to begin play and take a 1-0 lead in the match. Shaun Waters and Ben Davis defeated Vasily Eremeev and Josh Girling, 8-2, to start things off.
Tech's duo of Justin Kirstein and Alex Chen claimed their doubles contest, 8-5, over Kyle Wishing and Dimitri Pippos to even the doubles point. In the deciding contest, James Crawford and Lloyd Harris ignored an early 6-1 decicit and won three straight to make it a 6-4 match, before Elliot Barnwell and Matthew Langley recovered to win the next two for an 8-4 triumph.
Davis defeated Eremeev 6-2, 6-3 to begin singles action and make the score 2-0 in favor of the Blue Raiders.
Chen (shown in photo) cut Middle Tennessee's lead to one, 2-1, with his 6-1, 7-6 win over Waters in No. 1 singles.
Kirstein lost his first set, 6-0, to Barnwell in No. 4 singles then came back and tied things with a 6-2 win in the second set. The third set was a tight battle, with Barnwell pulling out a 7-6 (9-7) win to put the Blue Raiders up by two, 3-1.
Pippos handled Murilo Oliviera in No. 5 singles, 6-1, 6-0, to hand Middle Tennessee the match. Langley and Wishing rounded out the action with wins for MTSU. Girling claimed the second set against Langley, 6-4, before falling 7-6 in the tiebreaker third set. Wishing pulled out his match 6-4, 3-6 and then won the super tiebreaker, 10-8.
Middle Tennessee Tennis
Tennessee Tech vs Middle Tennessee (Jan 23, 2011)
Middle Tennessee 6, Tennessee Tech 1
Jan 23, 2011 at Nashville, Tenn.
| Singles competition |
| 1. CHEN, Alex (TTU) def. Shaun Waters (MT) 6-1, 7-6 (7-4) |
| 2. Matthew Langley (MT) def. GIRLING, Josh (TTU) 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 |
| 3. Ben Davis (MT) def. EREMEEV, Vasily (TTU) 6-2, 6-3 |
| 4. Elliott Barnwell (MT) def. KIRSTEIN, Justin (TTU) 6-0, 2-6, 7-6 (9-7) |
| 5. Dimitri Pippos (MT) def. OLIVIERA, Murilo (TTU) 6-1, 6-0 |
| 6. Kyle Wishing (MT) def. CRAWFORD, James (TTU) 6-4, 3-6, 10-8 |
| Doubles competition |
| 1. Shaun Waters/Ben Davis (MT) def. EREMEEV, Vasily/GIRLING, Josh (TTU) 8-2 |
| 2. Elliott Barnwell/Matthew Langley (MT) def. CRAWFORD, James/HARRIS, Lloyd (TTU) 8-4 |
| 3. CHEN, Alex/KIRSTEIN, Justin (TTU) def. Kyle Wishing/Dimitri Pippos (MT) 8-5 |
| Match Notes |
| Tennessee Tech 0-0 |
| Middle Tennessee 2-0 |
| Order of finish: Doubles (1,3,2); Singles (3,1,4,5,2) |
