SPRING ARBOR, Mich. – The Spring Arbor University men's tennis team earned two victories Saturday at the Jones Tennis Complex, defeating NCAA Division II Cedarville University 4-1 and edging Olivet Nazarene University 4-3.
Aziz Madatov led the Cougars with straight-set victories at No. 1 singles in both matchups. Spring Arbor secured the doubles point against Cedarville before winning four singles matches to overcome a doubles deficit against Olivet Nazarene.
Against Cedarville, Madatov and
Daniel Rodriguez Fortes won 6-1 at No. 1 doubles, while
Andrei Negrut and
Jaume Riera Galindo earned a 7-5 victory at No. 2 to give SAU the doubles point.
Madatov defeated Roman Issayev 6-0, 6-4 in singles, and Riera Galindo topped JJ Lopez 6-3, 6-2 at No. 3. Rodriguez Fortes recovered from dropping the opening set to beat Taylor Jenkins 6-7, 6-4, 10-7 at No. 2, winning a match tiebreaker to complete his victory.
Olivet Nazarene took two of the three doubles matches in the second matchup.
Jakub Sevcik and
Miguel Carvalho provided SAU's doubles win with a 6-3 result at No. 3.
The Cougars answered with four straight-set singles victories. Madatov defeated Chatton Haws 6-4, 6-2, while Carvalho earned a 6-1, 7-6 win over Martin Melnizky at No. 4.
MacKinley McNalley beat Adam Hartford 6-3, 6-1 at No. 5, and
Jacob Liao defeated Alexander Schroff 6-2, 6-1 at No. 6 to help secure the team victory.
Spring Arbor travels to Alma College on Tuesday, Oct. 13, for a 2 p.m. match.
