Men's Tennis | 5/9/2011 10:10:59 AM
Match Results
Salina, Kan. – The McPherson College men’s tennis team reached the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference Men’s Tennis Tournament finals for the first time since 1980, but failed to claim the championship with a 5-0 loss to Bethany College. The Bulldogs reached the title match with a 5-2 victory over Friends University in the semifinals.
With the results, McPherson ends its season with a 7-5 overall record.
Against Friends, the Bulldogs fell behind early dropping two of three doubles points to the Falcons. Sophomore Vyacheslav Bukatin (Moscow, Russia) and freshman Thiago Da Silva (Novo Hamburgo, Brazil) defeated Colton Heinrich and Cory Cockrell, 8-5, to earn MC’s lone doubles point.
However, McPherson bounced back to sweep the top four singles positions en route to the 5-2 victory. The match concluded when No. 2 Ronaldo Filho (Sao Paulo, Brazil) defeated Heinrich, 6-4, 6-2.
Following a two-hour break, the Bulldogs returned to the court against the top seeded Bethany College Swedes. Bethany claimed the first three points of the match with 8-2, 8-3 and 8-3 wins in the three doubles positions.
The Swedes maintained their momentum into singles play with wins at No. 2, 3 and 4 to earn the match victory. At No. 1 singles, Bukatin was victorious against Matias Leal-Jofre, 6-4, 6-1, but the match ended after Bethany had picked up the decisive point, so did not count in the score total.
