Men's Tennis | 4/6/2012 11:11:00 AM
McPherson, Kan. – The McPherson College men’s tennis team hosted NCAA Division 2 Newman Jets Thursday at McPherson High School. The Bulldogs came out tough and rebounded from their lopsided loss to Seminole State a few days ago to take down the Jets. The Bulldogs were looking to sweep doubles play as McPherson’s number two and number three doubles teams came up with solid wins. Number one players, juniors Vyacheslav Bukatin (Moscow, Russia)and Torsten Keil-Long (Claremont, Calif.), fought back to force a tie-breaker in their match; however, they could not hold the momentum as they dropped their match 9-8 to Newman.
The Bulldogs went into singles play with a 2-1 lead. Sophomore Mark Mahan (Fullerton, Calif.) lead the way again for the Bulldogs with his win at number two singles 6-4, 6-0 against Newman’s Chris Copenhaver. Newman would tie the match up by taking down McPherson’s Bukatin and Thiago Da Silva (Novo Hamburgo, Brazil) at number one and three singles, respectively. Junior Jonathan Wickramsinghe (Hesperia, Calif.) gave McPherson the lead once again as he fended off a comeback attempt from Jared Ferris in his match at number five singles securing the point for the Bulldogs with a 6-3, 7-6 win. Sophomore Sean De Young (Anaheim, Calif.) clinched the match for the Bulldogs with his impressive win at number six singles 6-2, 6-3 and Keil-Long cleaned it up for McPherson downing his opponent 6-4, 6-1.
The Bulldogs host Hesston College at 9 a.m. on Saturday, April 7. They will then open up KCAC play with Tabor College at 12:00 p.m. (CT)
Match Scores:
Final Score: McPherson College 6, Newman University 3
Doubles:
1) Ozegovic/Klein (NU) def. Bukatin/Keil-Long (MC) 9-8(1)
2) Mahan/Da Silva (MC) def. Kim/Copenhaver (NU) 8-6
3) Stewart/De Young (MC) def. Ferris/Wherritt (NU) 8-3
Singles:
1) Igor Ozegovic (NU) def. Slav Bukatin (MC) 6-3, 6-3
2) Mark Mahan (MC) def. Chris Copenhaver (NU) 6-4, 6-0
3) Evgeniy Kim (NU) def. Thiago Da Silva (MC) 6-3, 6-4
4) Torsten Keil-Long (MC) def. Kevin Kline (NU) 6-4, 6-1
5) Jonathan Wickramasinghe (MC) def. Jared Farris (NU) 6-3, 7-6(6)
6) Sean De Young (MC) def. Jeff Wherritt (NU) 6-2, 6-3
