McPherson, Kan. - The McPherson College men’s tennis team hosted Bethel College this past Monday, April 8. The much improved Thresher team challenged the Bulldogs but McPherson prevailed with a hard fought victory 8-1.
In doubles, it wasn’t the fast usual start that McPherson was used to in their last few matches. Bethel came prepared and stayed toe-to-toe with the Bulldogs. At number one doubles, it was a back-and-forth struggle in the early goings until Bethel eventually found ways to break the serve of McPherson’s top duo of Slav Bukatin (Moscow, Russia) and Sean Dullaghan (Los Angeles, Calif.) to take a commanding lead and not look back; they took the match from the Bulldogs 8-3. Bethel took the early lead from McPherson with that win going up 1-0. Number two and three doubles were in a dog fight until number three did much the same to figure out how to break the service game of the Threshers to level the match with their 8-3 victory. Number two doubles took a little longer for the Bulldogs to secure but the duo of Rafael Bulnes (Rosmalen, Netherlands) and Sean De Young (Anaheim, Calif.) eventually put their opponents away with a solid 8-4 victory to give McPherson a 2-1 lead headed into singles play.
In singles, the Threshers again rose to the challenge and stood toe-to-toe with the Bulldogs. At number one singles, despite the score of 6-1, 6-4, top 'Dog Bulnes had to play cautious and conservative due to the windy conditions and excellent defensive play of Logan Palenske. Junior Mark Mahan (Fullerton, Calif.) played his best match of the season thus far not letting other variables get in his way while cruising to a 6-0, 6-0 victory at the number four position. Senior Bukatin looked to redeem himself against Bethel’s Clinton Chlumsky who took him out of the first round of the Fall ITA Regional Championships in Wichita. Chlumsky had the early edge on Bukatin leading most of the first set; however, steady play from Bukatin and a few mistakes from Chlumsky gave Bukatin the first set 7-5. In the second, Chlumsky wouldn’t go away easily keeping it close but Bukatin sealed the match in the second set giving the Bulldog’s a 7-5, 6-4 victory and clinching the match for McPherson. Junior Dullaghan and freshman Adolfo Serafin (Maracay, Venezuela) added frosting to the cake by taking care of their opponents 6-3, 6-1 and 6-3, 6-3, respectively.
Senior Torsten Keil-Long (Claremont, Calif.) had the match of the day needing to come back from dropping the first set against a very talented Jesse Voth-Gaeddert. The match was pretty equal as the two battled it out for almost 3 hours; however, with the match already in hand for the Bulldogs, Keil-Long was able to secure the second set 6-4 and then came from behind in the match-tiebreaker to preserve the singles sweep for McPherson.
The Bulldog’s play host next to Southwestern College and Central Christian on Thursday, April 11. First serve against Southwestern College is set for 3:00pm while the evening match is set for 7:00pm. The late match against Central Christian is the Paul Ziegler Memorial Tennis match.
Final Scores:
McPherson College 8, Bethel College 1
Doubles:
1) Chlumsky/Voth-Gaeddert (BC) def. Bukatin/Dullaghan (Mac) 8-3
2) Bulnes/De Young (Mac) def. Tedone/Palanske (BC) 8-4
3) Mahan/Keil-Long (Mac) def. Soosalu/Herelle (BC) 8-3
Singles:
1) Rafael Bulnes (Mac) def. Logan Palanske (BC) 6-1, 6-4
2) Slav Bukatin (Mac) def. Clinton Chlumsky (BC) 7-5, 6-4
3) Torsten Keil-Long (Mac) def. Jesse Voth-Gaeddert (BC) 4-6, 6-4, 10-5
4) Mark Mahan (Mac) def. David Tedone (BC) 6-0, 6-0
5) Sean Dullaghan (Mac) def. Chris Soosalu (BC) 6-3, 6-1
6) Adolfo Serafin (Mac) def. Jenson Kingsley (BC) 6-3, 6-3
