Tech tops Belmont in marathon match
In a match that seemed to go on forever, with breaks by Mother Nature, the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles took the final advantage, winning 4-3, on the final set, topping the Belmont Bruins on Friday afternoon.
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – In a match that seemed to go on forever, with breaks by Mother Nature, the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles took the final advantage, winning 4-3, on the final set, topping the Belmont Bruins on Friday afternoon.
With the match starting at 12 p.m., four hours and forty-five minutes later, the Golden Eagles turned to freshman Eduardo Mena to close out the match. Mena, who moved from the No. 3 spot up to the No. 2 spot, topped the Bruin's Marko Lovrinovic, 4-6, 7-5, 6-3, to break a 3-3 tie and bring an end to the marathon match.
The Bruins got the upper hand early, taking the doubles point with wins in the No. 2 and 3 pairings. Mena and Cintas opened versus Belmont's Cedric Dujacquier and Caio Niel, falling 8-5 in the No. 2 spot. Junior Alex Arovin and sophomore Alberto Esteban evened doubles play with an 8-4 win over Mauricio Antun and Marko Lovrinovic in the No. 1 spot. In the deciding doubles match, freshman Jorge Alfonzo and senior Artem Tarasov fought hard, but ultimately fell to Robin Demasse and Bruno Russo, 8-6.
Alfonzo bounced back quickly, as the Venezuelan native was the first to finish his singles play, earning the Golden Eagles its first point on the cold and rainy day. Alfonzo topped Geoff Tulloch, 6-1, 6-3 in the No. 6 spot.
Tech took a 2-1 lead when Estaban topped Dujacquier in the No. 3 match, winning 6-2, 6-3.
However, the Bruins rallied through the next two sets with Antun topping Arovin 6-3, 0-6, 6-0, in the No. 1 match, and Damasse topping Cintas in the No. 4 match, 6-3, 7-6.
With the Bruins up 3-2, and two matches left to play, Tech relied on two of its freshmen. Carlos Tajes with the fifth Golden Eagle to wrap up play, and he evened the match at 3-3, setting up the game-winning match for Mena. Tajes topped Russo, 6-3, 6-7, 6-0.
With Mena closing the match, the Golden Eagles moved to 4-12, 2-1 in Ohio Valley Conference play. Tech will return to action on Saturday at 12 p.m. CT as the Host Tennessee State.
