GOSHEN, Ind. – The Maple Leaf men's tennis team got off to a quick start Friday by grabbing two intense doubles victories in front of an enthusiastic home crowd. Unfortunately, the strong start wasn't enough to get them past a tough minded Cardinal Stritch University team that eventually rallied to a 6-3 win over Goshen Friday morning.
Juniors Balas Pirot and Jon Kaasa won 9 -7 at # 1 doubles, while Juniors Luis Perez and Vasanth Palanisamy dominated the # 2 doubles match by winning the final six games to post the 8-3 win.
"Both doubles pairs served well and played aggressively at the net and from the baseline," said head coach Stan King. " I'd say those were the best exhibition of doubles played by Goshen during my tenure as coach."
Coach King also praised the doubles play of Aritha Weerasinghe and Taylor Ermoian at # 3 as they mounted a furious comeback effort after being down 2-5, closing the gap to 5-6 before eventually falling 5-8 in the match.
With doubles being the highlight of the match, the Maple Leaf momentum took a big turn for the worse as Pirot, at # 1 singles, sustained an injury during the 12th game of his first set, forcing him to retire.
Pirot's retirement came during a series of close matches which seemed to swing to the favor of the visiting Wolves. "As a team we were unable to capitalize on the nice 2-1 lead we took into singles play, as Weerasinghe (#5) was our lone singles winner of the day."
"(Cardinal Stritch) was a strong opponent and a team win would have been a great achievement for us, but in too many instances we weren't able to win points when we needed them," assessed King.
The Maple Leafs (0-1, 0-0 Crossroads League) will be back in action next Wednesday when they host Cornerstone University at 4:00 pm.
Complete Results
Cardinal Stritch 6, Goshen 3
Doubles:
- Pirot/Kaasa (GC) def Weich/Frank Wong 9-7
- Perez/Palanisamy (GC) def Fresse/Barros 8-3
- Watson/Le (CS) def Weerasinghe/Ermoian 8-5
Singles:
- Florian Freese (CS) def Balazs Pirot 6-5 (retired)
- Caio Barros (CS) def Luis Perez 7-6(6), 6-1
- Jimmy Le (CS) def Jon Kaasa 6-2, 3-6, 10-5
- Ray Weich (CS) def Vasanth Palanisamt 6-4, 6-2
- Aritha Werasinghe (GC) def George Watson 6-2, 7-6(5)
- Donnersson Penna (CS) def Taylor Ermoian 6-0, 6-1
Exhibition:
Stuart Nett/Nader Nurad (CS) def Ratnatunga/Gerig 8-1
Nader Nurad (CS) def Siddath Ratnatunga 6-0, 6-2
Alef Guimares (CS) def Joel Gerig 6-0, 6-0
