WINONA LAKE, Ind. – Host Grace College snapped a five-match winning streak by the Goshen College men's tennis team Tuesday afternoon, but the Maple Leafs still wrapped up home court advantage in the first round of the Crossroads League Tournament next week.
"Though this was a very disappointing loss for the team, I am proud of the effort our players put into their matches," 16th-year head coach Stan King said. "There are several lessons from this match which we should be able to draw on as we move forward to future matches."
Among the lessons King hopes his players pick up are being more aggressive in doubles play where he felt the Lancers took advantage of their sometimes conservative approach. The hosts jumped out to an early lead with a commanding 8-0 win at No. 1 and then took four straight games to win 8-4 at No. 2.
After finding themselves down 4-0, the Leafs' No. 3 tandem of Balazs Pirot and Michael Oyer rattled off eight straight games to earn an important point (8-4) heading to singles action.
"Coming from 4-0 down made out one team point seem even sweeter," King explained. "I thought we seemed a bit tentative and at times too conservative, though Grace's doubles play was solid, making few mistakes and taking advantage of opportunities to win point."
In singles play, Goshen's bottom half of the lineup excelled. Aritha Weerasinghe (No. 5) and Oyer (No. 6) both won in straight sets and Vasanth Palanisamy tied the team match at 4-4 (couple with Grace wins at No. 1 and No. 2) with a 6-2, 2-6, 6-1 victory at No. 4.
Still in the second set when the rest of the courts were vacated, Jon Kaasa and Jake Stump were in a battle at No. 3 singles. Kaasa outlasted his Lancer opponent 7-6 (7-4) in the first set, but Stump countered with a 6-1 win in the second to send both the individual and team outcome to a decisive third set. Stump took a 4-1 lead before Kaasa rattled off three games in a row to tie it, but Stump had the final say winning each of the last two games.
With the defeat, the Maple Leafs finish the Crossroads League regular season with a 5-3 mark. They will be the #4 seed in the league tournament, hosting fifth-seeded Huntington University on Tuesday. Prior to that, they will host St. Joseph's College (NCAA DII) in non-league action Saturday.
Results: Grace 5, Goshen 4
Doubles:
- 1. Sanchez/Stump (Gr) def Kaasa/Weerasinghe 8-0
- 2. Marval/Grove (Gr) def Perez/Palanisamy 8-4
- 3. Pirot/Oyer (Go) def Vervynckt/Dave Driscoll 8-4
Singles:
- 1. Daniel Sanchez (Gr) def Balazs Pirot 6-2, 6-2
- 2. Jose Marval (Gr) def Luis Perez 6-0, 6-0
- 3. Jake Stump (Gr) def Jon Kaasa 6-7(4-7), 6-1, 6-4
- 4. Vasanth Palanisamy (Go) def Ethan Grove 6-2, 2-6, 6-1
- 5. Aritha Weerasinghe (Go) def Gabe Verynckt 6-1, 6-1
- 6. Michael Oyer (Go) def Ricordo Bedon 6-2, 6-1
