GOSHEN, Ind. — The Goshen College men's tennis team capped the conference careers of five seniors with a positive note Tuesday evening, defeating Grace College 6-3 at the Goshen College Tennis Complex.
The Maple Leafs swept through the lower positions, winning all four matches between no. 3 and no. 6 singles in straight sets. Adding no. 3 doubles to the equation, Goshen won the five lowest-numbered positions with a 56-7 record in games.
But 17th-year Goshen head coach Stan King points to a different match, no. 2 doubles, as the turning point that gave his team its singles edge. The no. 1 doubles match had gone to Grace 8-6, leaving the teams tied 1-1. But Balazs Pirot and Eric Zuercher led 5-2 before dropping a service break to find themselves level at 6-6. The match went to a tiebreaker at eight games all, and the Goshen duo won six of the final seven points to prevail 9-8(6).
"That doubles win, which allowed us to go into singles play holding a 2-1 team lead, was critical," said King. "It took some pressure off as it meant we only needed three singles points instead of four to win the match."
Goshen won four singles matches anyway, but not any more. The fifth singles match off the court was at no. 2, where Luis Perez took his first set to a tiebreak before falling 7-6(5), 6-1. Finally, on the lit courts amid growing darkness, Pirot lost 6-4, 7-6(5) to Danila Kourkoulin to finalize the team score. Still, King was pleased with his team's performance.
"A win over Grace was sweet, as we hadn't beaten them since 2008," King said. "And it was good to win on Senior Night, sending five of our players (Jon Kaasa, Michael Oyer, Vasanth Palanisamy, Perez and Pirot) off with a win."
The Maple Leafs improve to 9-1 on the season and wrap up conference play with a 7-1 mark. That puts Goshen in second place in the Crossroads League standings, which means Goshen hosts Spring Arbor University on Tuesday afternoon in the conference quarterfinals. The Maple Leafs would also be in line to host a semifinal on Thursday, Oct. 8. Start times will be set over the weekend.
Before the tournament, however, Goshen will play a pair of home non-conference matches, beginning with a Thursday afternoon tilt against NCAA Division III school Anderson University. First serve is set for 4 p.m.
Full Results: Goshen 6, Grace 3
Singles:
1. Danila Kourkoulin (Gr) def. Balazs Pirot 6-4, 7-6(5)
2. Uros Prejic (Gr) def. Luis Perez 7-6(5), 6-1
3. Jon Kaasa (Go) def. Ethan Grove 6-0, 6-3
4. Aritha Weerasinghe (Go) def. Ricardo Bedon 6-0, 6-0
5. Vasanth Palanisamy (Go) def. Gabe Vervynckt 6-0, 6-1
6. Michael Oyer (Go) def. Adam Yoder 6-0, 6-2
Doubles:
1. Kourkoulin/Grove (Gr) def. Kaasa/Palanisamy 8-6
2. Pirot/Zuercher (Go) def. Pajic/Vervynckt 9-8(6)
3. Perez/Weerasinghe (Go) def. A. Yoder/Caleb Yoder 8-1
