Men's Tennis | 5/7/2012 11:48:00 AM
Wichita, Kan. – On Thursday, May 3, the McPherson College men’s tennis team played in the KCAC Team Tennis Tournament with the winner getting an automatic bid into the NAIA National Tournament.
McPherson College entered the-four team tournament as the number two seed and faced third seeded Tabor College in the morning’s Semi-Final match. The Bulldogs were able to sweep all three doubles points to take a 3-0 lead going into the singles matches. In singles it was all McPherson as junior Slav Bukatin helped McPherson get its fourth point for a 4-0 lead while KCAC Newcomer of the Year sophomore Mark Mahan cleaned up the match with a convincing win at number one singles against Tabor’s David Simmet 6-1, 6-1 sending the Bulldogs into the KCAC Championship for a rematch with Bethany College.
In the match against Bethany, the Bulldogs showed a lot of fight and heart as two of the three doubles matches went down to the wire. After dropping number two doubles, the Bulldogs forced tie-breaks at number one and number three doubles. At number three doubles, the duo of Sean De Young and Jordan Stewart fought back to force a tie-break in their match. The Swedes came up with an early lead and eventually took that doubles match in an exciting finish winning 7-4 against the Bulldogs. At the number one doubles position, Mark Mahan and Torsten Keil-Long had their chances to win the match and were even serving for it at one point, but the Swedes were able to hold serve to go into the tie-breaker. The tie-breaker was close but the Bulldogs eventually fell to surrender a 3-0 lead to the Swedes.
In singles, the Swedes were able to defeat Torsten Keil-Long and Slav Bukatin to seal the match in their favor and win the KCAC Team Tennis Tournament. The lone highlight for the Bulldogs was the play of Mark Mahan as he was winning his match at number one singles before having to abandon it when Bethany had taken the fifth and deciding point.
Match Scores:
Semi-Finals vs. #3 Tabor College
Final Score: McPherson College 5, Tabor College 0
Doubles:
1) Mark Mahan/Torsten Keil-Long (MC) def. David Simmet/Clay Sheway (TC) 8-3
2) Slav Bukatin/Thiago Da Silva (MC) def. Keyln Vix/Tyler Dort (TC) 8-5
3) Jordan Stewart/Sean De Young (MC) def. Jakob Brucks/Jeremy Reisig (TC) 8-2
Singles:
1) Mark Mahan (MC) def. David Simmet (TC) 6-1, 6-1
2) Slav Bukatin (MC) def. Nathan Panttaja (TC) 6-0, 6-1
3) Thiago Da Silva (MC) vs. Keyln Vix (TC) DNF
4) Torsten Keil-Long (MC) vs. Tyler Dort (TC) DNF
5) Jonathan Wicks (MC) vs. Samuel Brucks (TC) DNF
6) Sean De Young (MC) vs. Jeremy Reiswig (TC) DNF
Finals vs. #1 Bethany College
Final Score: Bethany College 5, McPherson College 0
Doubles:
1) Kane Olsen/Marcelo Alecio (BC) def. Mark Mahan/Torsten Keil-Long (MC) 9-8(4)
2) Jack Schoeman/James Bragg (BC) def. Slav Bukatin/Thiago Da Silva (MC) 8-4
3) Alex Sandri/Shane Huggins (BC) def. Jordan Stewart/Sean De Young (MC) 9-8(3)
Singles:
1) Mark Mahan (MC) vs. Jack Schoeman (BC) 6-2, 0-3 DNF
2) Marcelo Alecio (BC) def. Slav Bukatin (MC) 6-3, 6-2
3) Alex Sandri (BC) vs. Thiago Da Silva (MC) DNF
4) Kane Olsen (BC) def. Torsten Keil-Long (MC) 6-1, 6-1
5) Shane Huggins (BC) def. Jonathan Wicks (MC) 6-0, 6-3**
6) James Bragg (BC) def. Sean De Young (MC) 6-1, 6-3**
**Played after match had been decided
