Ball State University
University at Buffalo
Men’s Tennis Suffers 6-1 Setback to Buffalo
March 09, 2025 | Men's Tennis
MUNCIE, Ind. — Ball State men's tennis' four-match winning streak came to an end Sunday morning as the red and white fell to Mid-American Conference foe Buffalo, 6-1, in the Ball State Tennis Facility. The Cardinals' loss drops their season mark to 8-5 and conference record to 1-1, while the Bulls earned their second MAC win and moved their overall record to 9-4 with their triumph.
Ball State earned its sole point in singles action, with Drew Hayward cruising to a straight-set win (6-2, 6-4) at No. 5 singles.
Buffalo opened the morning of action by grabbing the doubles point. The Bulls secured 6-2 and 6-3 wins at the No. 2 and No. 3 courts, respectfully. The top doubles match, where the tandem of Jacks Lancaster and Mason Tran represented Ball State, was abandoned with Buffalo leading 5-4 in a tightly contested matchup.
With a 1-0 lead at the start of singles play, Buffalo maintained its winning momentum. The visiting Bulls collected victories at No. 2, 4 and 6 singles in straight sets to earn the fourth point to secure the team win. Buffalo later added wins to its total at courts one and three to cap off the 6-1 triumph.
Nathaniel Webster nearly earned another point for the Cardinals at the No. 1 spot, as he battled Buffalo's Theodoris Mitsakos to three sets. Webster and Mitsakos exchanged 7-5 wins in the first two frames, but the Bulls' top singles star, ultimately, prevailed in a 10-point, third-set tiebreak.
After completing a weekend home stand to open conference play, the Cardinals will compete in a pair of road matches in the state of Illinois as they continue to march through the MAC schedule. Ball State is set to battle against Northern Illinois on Thursday, March 13, at 2 p.m. (ET) and against UIC on Saturday, March 15, at 4 p.m. (ET).
Doubles
No. 1: Cheng Tang/Daniils Snaiders (Buffalo) vs. Mason Tran/Jacks Lancaster (Ball State), 5-4 (abandoned)
No. 2: Theodoris Mitsakos/Clement Mainguy (Buffalo) def. Nathaniel Webster/Drew Hayward (Ball State), 6-2
No. 3: Michael Malkin/Emiliano Jorquera (Buffalo) def. Sajin Smith/Ian Brady (Ball State), 6-3
Singles
No. 1: Theodoris Mitsakos (Buffalo) def. Nathaniel Webster (Ball State), 7-5, 5-7, 1-0(5)
No. 2: Cheng Tang (Buffalo) def. Jacks Lancaster (Ball State), 6-3, 6-3
No. 3: Clement Mainguy (Buffalo) def. Mason Tran (Ball State), 7-6(4), 6-3
No. 4: Daniils Snaiders (Buffalo) def. Sajin Smith (Ball State), 6-3, 6-3
No. 5: Drew Hayward (Ball State) def. Michael Malkin (Buffalo), 6-2, 6-4
No. 6: Faiz Nasyam (Buffalo) def. Petar Petrovic (Ball State), 6-1, 6-1
Players Mentioned
