Despite two big wins in early flights, the Tiger tennis squad dropped a conference show down with the Denison Big Red. The loss moves the Tigers’ record to 1-13 on the year, and is the thirteenth loss in a row for the Tigers — a streak which has spanned the entire spring season.
On Tuesday, the Tigers received victories in the top two flights with freshman Martin Mora dispatching Denison number one Grant Veltman in two sets (6-3, 6-2). Senior Alexey Topolyanskiy followed Mora’s victory with a triumph of his own, bouncing Denison junior Casey Cempre in two sets (6-2, 6-3).
The Tigers, however, were not able to take advantage of these two early victories, as Denison rolled off four consecutive victories in the final individual flights of the match, despite freshman Akbar Tiwana winning two games in the his first set against Denison’s Jeffery LoDucca, and JiaLang Woo, who also took a set from Denison number three Jackson O’Gorman Bean.
The Tigers were not able fare much better in doubles, as all three pairs of Tigers fell to their Denison counterparts. Each Tiger pair was able to scratch out at least one game — and Topolyanskiy and Mora were able to team up to win four games in their loss to O’Gorman Bean and Veltman.
The women also struggled against the nationally-ranked Denison Squad, as they dropped the match 9-0. The Tigers were unable to snag a single game from Big Red, who are poised to be the number two seed in the upcoming NCAC tournament.
The program takes the court for a non-conference tune up before the NCAC tournament next Tuesday, when they take on the Indiana East Red Wolves. The men’s squad will look to use this opportunity to bookend their losing streak with victories over the Red Wolves, as they hope to duplicate their success against Indiana East from last fall. The women, on the other hand, have not matched up with the Red Wolves this year.
