LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The Louisville Cardinal tennis team had
rolled through 31 consecutive homecourt wins in the Bass-Rudd
Tennis Center before having their streak ended last week by No. 3
Ohio State.
This week, the Cardinals – ranked No. 35 – are working
to start a new streak. It began Monday with a 5-2 win over Clemson,
and on Saturday they added two more victims, including a 6-1 win
over Belmont and a 6-1 victory over Tennessee Tech.
The Golden Eagles got a win at No. 1 doubles, and senior Alex Chen
claimed his match at No. 2 singles, but otherwise Louisville
claimed everything else.
Chen and Syrym Abduhkalikov won the No. 1 doubles match, taking an
8-6 decision from Robert Hall and Seb Stiefelmeyer. The
Cardinals won the doubles point, however, getting an 8-1 win at No.
2 and an 8-4 victory at No. 3.
Abduhkalikov put up a heroic fight at No. 1 singles before falling
in three sets to Stiefelmeyer. After dropping the first set, 6-0,
Abduhkalikov battled back to win the second, 6-4. The decisive set
went to the Cardinals’ Austrian freshman, 6-4.
Chen dropped his first set, 6-2, before bouncing back to win the
second, 6-3, over Andrew Carter. The contest went to Chen in the
third set, 1-0.
Beyond that, Louisville claimed straight set wins at the other
four singles positions for the win.
Tech (1-5) will play at East Tennessee State next Sunday, Feb. 26.
Louisville improved to 7-4.