Men's Tennis | 2/4/2013 12:49:00 PM
Hobbs, N.M. – The McPherson College men’s tennis team finished its opening weekend of matches on a high note taking out the host the University of Southwest Mustangs 7-2, and the Arizona Christian University Firestorm 5-4.
“Overall I’m pleased with how we played this weekend. We know what we need to work on and can start building from there” said Head Coach Jeff Benito.
The Bulldogs opened the day with a very tough University of Southwest squad which featured the No. 11 ranked national player. The Bulldogs came out of the gate strong in all of the doubles matches. The senior duo of Torsten Keil-Long and Slav Bukatin got the early lead against their Mustang opponents by breaking their serve early and won by a score of 8-4. Juniors Mark Mahan and Sean De Young did the same by establishing an early lead and breaking their opponents serve early and often, winning their match 8-2. At number one doubles Jonathan Wickramasinghe and Rafael Bulnes were even with their opponents until the Mustangs broke the serve of Rafael Bulnes and cruised to an 8-5 win over the Bulldogs.
Bulldogs entered singles competition with a 2-1 lead.
In singles the Bulldogs came out strong again lead by their top player, No. 43 ranked Rafael Bulnes who played strong and tough to upset the No. 11 ranked Marek Ondruj 6-0, 6-2. The Mustangs were able to draw closer when senior Ronaldo Filho dropped his match against a tough Alfee Mohan 6-3, 6-2. Juniors Sean De Young and Mark Mahan took it home for the Bulldogs by securing their matches in extra sets. Sean De Young dispatched his opponent 6-0, 2-6, 10-8 and Mark Mahan played through injury to come back and win his match 5-7, 6-1, 10-6. Mark Mahan secured the win for the Bulldogs against the Mustangs.
Seniors Torsten Keil-Long and Slav Bukatin cleaned up the rest of the singles matches by defeating their tough foes. Slav Bukatin took out Felix Singer who is ranked #12 in the Central Region 6-4, 6-4. Bukatin was never behind in the match. Torsten Keil-Long, ranked #16 in the Central Region, took care of his opponent by a 7-6(0), 6-2.
The Bulldogs had little rest as they took on the Arizona Christian University Firestorm right after dispatching the Mustangs. The ACU Firestorm are a new tennis team to the NAIA and were quite better than expected. The Bulldogs benefitted from an ineligible player on the Firestorm Roster and were leading 2-0 at the beginning of the match virtue of the Firestorm defaulting #6 singles and #3 doubles.
The match started with great energy coming from the Firestorm as they defeated the Bulldogs in both of the doubles by identical 8-5 scores. In singles, experience won out as sophomore’s Rafael Bulnes and Jordan Stewart took easy wins verses their opponents to draw the Bulldogs within one point of the win. The Firestorm used great play from their freshman to even the score by defeating junior Sean De Young at #3 singles 6-3, 6-2 and freshman Adolfo Serafin 6-1, 4-6, 10-2. Senior Torsten Keil-Long brought it home for the Bulldogs as he was able to keep composure and play focused against a talented ACU freshman Ian Glessing 6-4, 6-3.
“That was a good young team we faced in Arizona Christian, I had little information on them, but they are quite a good team for being brand new. I’m glad that we were able to rely on a solid team effort by all of the Bulldogs to pull this one out,” added Coach Benito.
The Bulldogs have another busy weekend coming up with some indoor tennis action first on Saturday, February 9 against NCAA Division II Newman University at Genesis in Wichita and then hosting Southwestern Christian University and Seward County Community College on Sunday, February 10 at Genesis in Salina.
Match Scores:
Final Score: McPherson College 7, University of Southwest 2
Doubles:
1) M. Ondruj/T.Mizera (USW) def. R. Bulnes/J. Wickramasinghe (Mac) 8-5
2) S. Bukatin/T. Keil-Long (Mac) def. F. Singer/A. Mohan (USW) 8-4
3) M. Mahan/S. De Young (Mac) def. S. Quinterro/M. Sladkovski (USW) 8-2
Singles:
1) Rafael Bulnes (Mac) def. Marek Ondruj (USW) 6-0, 6-2
2) Slav Bukatin (Mac) def. Felix Singer (USW) 6-4, 6-4
3) Torsten Keil-Long (Mac) def. Thomas Mizera (USW) 7-6(0), 6-2
4) Alfee Mohan (USW) def. Ronaldo Filho (Mac) 6-3, 6-2
5) Mark Mahan (Mac) def. Alex Sandaval (USW) 5-7, 6-1, 10-6
6) Sean De Young (Mac) def. Santiago Quintero (USW) 6-0, 2-6, 10-8
Final Score: McPherson College 5, Arizona Christian University 4
Doubles:
1) A. Barnett/I. Glessing (ACU) def. T.Keil-Long/S. Bukatin (Mac) 8-5
2) T. Cawthorne/M. Mungia (ACU) def. R. Filho/A. Serafin (Mac) 8-5
3) Sean De Young/Rafael Bulnes (Mac) won by default
Singles:
1) Rafael Bulnes (Mac) def. Andrew Barnett (ACU) 6-1, 6-1
2) Torsten Keil-Long (Mac) def. Ian Glessing (ACU) 6-4, 6-3
3) Tyler Cawthrone (ACU) def. Sean De Young (Mac) 6-3, 6-2
4) Michael Mungia (ACU) def. Adolfo Serafin (Mac) 6-1, 4-6, 10-2
5) Jordan Stewart (Mac) def. Geoff Leu (ACU) 6-1, 6-0
6) Michael Irwin (Mac) won by default.
Records: McPherson College 3-0
