Men's Tennis Pushes Past Missouri Valley in Home Opener

McPHERSON, Kan. (macbulldogs.com) --- The No. 21-ranked McPherson College men's tennis team opened its 2018 home slate with a 6-3 victory over (RV) Missouri Valley College Saturday at the McPherson High School courts.

Playing without Hector Carrillo Perales (Barcelona, Spain, Bon Salvador), the Bulldogs (3-3) swept all three doubles matches with a shuffled lineup. Ahmed Lahlou (Casablanca, Morocco, Groupe Scolaire Anfa) teamed with Julien Bodin (Cartagena, Spain, Las Salinas) for an 8-5 victory over Stefano Benedetti and Abdul Alhamzawi at No. 1, while Jacob Turley (Milton Keynes, England, Cedars Upper School) and Andreas Huber (Forstinning, Germany, Franz-Marc-Gymnasium) defeated Marc Kerndl and Benedict Voelker by the same score at the No.2 spot. Juan Alejandro Jimenez (Pereira, Colombia, Liceo Taller San Miguel) and James Lee (Cambridge, England, Freman College) completed the sweep with an 8-6 win over Greg Teal and Marius Castella at No. 3 doubles.

Lahlou joined Carrillo on the bench in singles play, meaning that players in the Bulldog singles lineup were playing up anywhere between one and three spots in the order.

McPherson quickly clinched the match with straight-set victories at No.1 and No. 2 singles. Turley topped Alhamzawi, 6-2, 6-3, at the top spot, while Bodin defeated Voelker, 6-3, 6-1, at No. 2. Huber picked up the final Bulldog point with a three-set win over Kerndl at the No. 4 position. 

The Vikings (3-4) took the final three points as Benedetti topped Jimenez, 6-4, 6-2, at No. 3, Guilherme Albertinazzi edged Daan Coppelmans (Waalre, The Netherlands, Sint-Joriscollege Eindhoven), 7-6 (5), 4-6, 1-0 (9) at the No. 5 spot and Ruben Hoekstra defeated Lee, 7-5, 6-0, at the No. 6 spot.

The Bulldogs are idle until Saturday, March 24, when they travel to Salina to face Kansas Wesleyan University in their first Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference (KCAC) match. McPherson was slated to open KCAC play Wednesday afternoon against Friends University in Wichita, but the match was canceled due to low roster numbers for Falcons. The Bulldogs will receive a 9-0 forfeit victory in the league standings.