Men's Tennis Earns 5-2 Victory Over Belmont

Sunday, January 21

Muncie, Ind.

1:00 PM

Ball State University

Belmont University

January 21, 2018 | Men's Tennis

Box Score Ball State 5, Belmont 2

MUNCIE, Ind. – Junior Conner Andersen clinched the Cardinals win over Belmont Sunday afternoon at the Muncie YMCA Tennis Center. Ball State defeated Belmont by a score of 5-2. With the win, the Cardinals improved to 2-1 on the season while Belmont falls to 0-3.

The Cardinals began the day on a high note, taking the first doubles match from the Bruins after Chris Adams and Tom Carney took down Vincent Sterkents and Jake Brings by a score of 6-2 at the No. 3 spot. Conner Andersen paired up with teammate Marko Guzina at No. 2 doubles but suffered a 6-3 loss to Stephen Goldman and Zak Khan. After that, the doubles point came down to the top court. Nemanja Guzina and Thibault de Negri pushed ahead early and went up 4-0 over Hendrik Inno and Marko Ilic. But Inno and Ilic fought their way back into the match to send it into a tiebreaker situation. Unfortunately, Nemanja Guzina and De Negri fell short to the Bruins, 9-7 to give Belmont its first point.

Ball State began to rebound in singles action, as Adams quickly captured a straight set win 6-0, 6-2 over Briggs on court five. Nemanja Guzina continued the Cardinals momentum giving Ball State the lead after his 6-2, 6-3 defeat over Vincent Sterkens. But Belmont wouldn't sit quietly, knotting the match 2-2 after earning the victory at the No. 3 spot. Bryce Bonin registered the Cardinals third point after his win over David Faulkner at the No. 6 slot.

The match would come down to courts two and four, both in their third sets. Andersen took the first set from Khan 7-5 before dropping the second set 6-3. He was then down in the third but fought back to claim the victory and clinch the match for Ball State. Marko Guzina also walked away with a three set thriller on court two.

The Ball State men's tennis team continues spring play when it plays on the road at Xavier on Feb. 2 at 1 p.m. before returning home Feb. 3 for a doubleheader against IU Southeast with the first match starting at 1 p.m. and the second match at 4 p.m.