Men's Tennis | 4/26/2013 8:58:00 AM
Lindsborg, Kan. - It was a battle of two top twenty teams in Men’s Tennis yesterday in Lindsborg. The eighteenth ranked McPherson College Bulldogs paid a visit to the sixth ranked Bethany College Swedes. The match was close and hotly contested; however, in the end the Swedes were able to edge out the Bulldogs 6-3.
The Swedes would strike first taking the top doubles position from McPherson downing Slav Bukatin (Moscow, Russia) and Sean Dullaghan (Los Angeles, Calif.) 8-2; the Bulldogs responded, however, by taking number three doubles thanks to good serving and net play by Mark Mahan (Fullerton, Calif.) and Torsten Keil-Long (Claremont, Calif.) 8-5. The match at number two doubles was back and forth. Both sides held serve until Bethany’s duo of Marcelo Alecio and Kane Olson were able to break the serve of Rafael Bulnes (Rosmalen, Netherlands) that was short lived as the Bulldog pair quickly struck back by breaking the serve of Kane Olson to go right back on serve. After a hold by Sean De Young (Anaheim, Calif.) the pair worked to break the serve again of either Swede. The break happened again on Kane Olson’s racket and the Bulldog pair celebrated a 9-7 victory to give the Bulldogs a 2-1 lead after doubles.
In singles, the matches were quite challenged especially at the top of the lineup. The Swedes were able to level the match when Shane Huggins took down Dullaghan 6-1, 6-3. Dullaghan was making a comeback in the second set, but wasn’t able to hang on dropping his match. The Bulldogs took the lead again when top dog Bulnes dispelled his opponent Laurentsi Arkhamiya 6-1, 6-3. Bulnes played an incredible match not giving his opponent many chances. However, the Swedes leveled the score once again when James Bragg defeated Keil-Long 6-2, 6-1. At number two singles, senior Bukatin battled back in the first set after being down 2-5 but unfortunately lost 6-4. Bukain was up big 5-2 in the second set but Michael Van Den Bogaert was able to creep back to also take the second set in the tie-breaker winning his match 6-4, 7-6 and giving the Swedes a 4-3 lead. Junior Mahan dropped the first set against Marcelo Alecio 6-0, but battled back quickly to level the match by taking the second set 6-3. Mahan took an early advantage 1-0 at the beginning of the third set, however, Kane Olson had just defeated De Young at the number five singles position to clinch the match for the Swedes.
“Overall, I think we played well and our guys played them tough,” said McPherson head coach Jeff Benito. “That’s our second 6-3 loss to a top 10 NAIA program this season which tells me that we can definitely compete on the National level. I’m proud of what our guys have accomplished thus far this season.”
Next up for the Bulldogs is the KCAC Individual Tournament to be played in Salina this Saturday. Brackets will be announced Friday for the Individual Tournament. After that the Bulldogs will await the bracket for the KCAC Conference Team Tournament to be played at Riverside Tennis Center in Wichita on May 3.
Match Results
Bethany College 6, McPherson College 3
Doubles:
1) Arakhamiya/Van Den Bogaert (BC) def. Bukatin/Dullaghan (Mac) 8-2
2) Bulnes/De Young (Mac) def. Olsen/Alecio (BC) 9-7
3) Mahan/Keil-Long (Mac) def. Huggins/Alex Sandri (BC) 8-5
Singles:
1) Rafael Bulnes (Mac) def. Laurentsi Arakhamiya (BC) 6-1, 6-3
2) Michael Van Den Bogaert (BC) def. Slav Bukatin (Mac) 6-4, 7-6
3) Marcelo Alecio (BC) def. Mark Mahan (Mac) 6-0, 3-6, 6-3
4) James Bragg (BC) def. Torsten Keil-Long (Mac) 6-2, 6-1
5) Kane Olson (BC) def. Sean De Young (Mac) 6-2, 6-3
6) Shane Huggins (BC) def. Sean Dullaghan (Mac) 6-1, 6-3
