SPRING ARBOR, Mich. — Kartikeya Sharma and Juan Miguel Ciudad posted straight-set wins for the visitors, but Spring Arbor University used a sweep of the three doubles positions to claim a 5-4 men's tennis win over Goshen College on Tuesday afternoon at SAU's Jones Tennis Complex.
Eric Zuercher rebounded from a 6-4 first-set defeat, dropping a single game over his next two stanzas combined to add a win at no. 2 singles. That closed Goshen's deficit to 4-3 in the team match after Spring Arbor (3-1, 3-1) got a three-set win from Nick Romano at the top position.
That left the match result down to the final two spots, with Goshen (5-4, 3-3) needing to sweep both for the win.
Unfortunately for the Maple Leafs, the Cougars' Sam Head had other ideas, as he posted a 7-5 third-set win over Evan Beck at no. 6 singles to clinch SAU's third team victory of the conference season. Goshen picked up a win by retirement at no. 4, but that merely closed the team deficit to 5-4.
While Goshen's place in the Crossroads League postseason tournament has been secure since last week's victory over Saint Francis, the loss dropped director of tennis Evan Atkinson's team to a three-way tie for fifth in the league standings. GC can still finish as high as a tie for first with more than a third of the total conference schedule remaining over the next 10 days.
The Maple Leafs close their regular season with three matches in three days to end the week, beginning with the antepenultimate contest at Huntington on Friday. First serve on the HU campus is set for 4:30 p.m.
Spring Arbor 5, Goshen 4
1S. Nick Romano (SA) def. Aritha Weerasinghe 6-4, 1-6, 6-4
2S. Eric Zuercher (G) def. Alex Reinbold 4-6, 6-0, 6-1
3S. Kartikeya Sharma (G) def. Vincent McShane 6-4, 6-0
4S. Juan Miguel Ciudad (G) def. Jonah Engle 6-4, 6-1
5S. Eric Cender (G) def. Jacob Byrd 5-7, 7-6(3), retired
6S. Sam Head (SA) def. Evan Beck 6-7(6), 6-3, 7-5
1D. Romano/McShane (SA) def. Zuercher/Sharma 8-3
2D. Engle/Byrd (SA) def. Weerasinghe/Luke Rush 8-6
3D. Reinbold/Josh Scott (SA) def. Ciudad/Cender 9-8(3)
