WINONA LAKE, Ind. — Goshen College swept its third straight Crossroads League men's tennis match Thursday with a 9-0 win over Grace College on the Lancers' campus.
While the scoreline was the same as the Maple Leafs' win over Bethel 24 hours earlier, the storyline wasn't. A day after claiming all six singles matches in straight sets, GC needed three third sets Thursday afternoon, but won them all to run its aggregate conference score to 27-0.
The Maple Leafs (4-0, 3-0) opened the match with three doubles wins for the third time in as many conference matches, getting an 8-2 win from Josh Friesen and Luke Rush for the largest margin of that segment.
All three doubles matches were decided by margins of at least two service breaks; once singles play started, one member of each doubles team finished off the team win quickly: the Maple Leafs got straight-set wins from Juan Miguel Ciudad, Martim Cafe and Josh Friesen at nos. 2, 3 and 5 singles respectively.
Grace (1-3, 1-2) came away with one opening-set win, a 7-5 triumph by Caleb Yoder at no. 6 singles, and used a pair of late second-set breaks to level the matches at no. 1 and no. 4, 6-4 and 7-5 respectively. As that happened, however, Goshen's Evan Beck brought his match to one set all with a 7-5 win at no. 6 to ensure that half of the singles matches went the distance.
With the team match already decided, all three remaining matches finished with 10-point match tiebreakers. In the end, all that did was expedite the Maple Leafs' ride into the sunset -- or the overcast, as Thursday's weather report would have it.
Kartikeya Sharma won his third set 10-4. Danny Boussom closed out the top spot 10-5. Beck prevailed 10-6.
"We know Grace is a strong team and we got a bit of a break with two of their top players out with injuries," said GC director of tennis Evan Atkinson. "We still had hard-fought matches and I was proud of each of our guys for pulling through in those tight competitions. It's good to have close matches to test our mental fortitude and get stronger in that part of the game. Teams in our conference will take advantage of moments of weakness and we need to find the positive energy to push through it. We appreciate the win and hope to keep building on our experiences."
Goshen travels to Indiana Wesleyan on Saturday for a matchup of the two remaining undefeated Crossroads League teams. First serve is set for 10 a.m. at the Sutter Tennis Center.
Full Results: Goshen 9, Grace 0
Singles
1. Danny Boussom def. Pavle Popovic 6-4, 4-6, (10-5)
2. Juan Miguel Ciudad def. Diego Zamora 6-2, 6-2
3. Martim Cafe def. Arturo Fonseca 6-0, 6-1
4. Kartikeya Sharma def. Jacob Gray 6-1, 5-7, (10-4)
5. Josh Friesen def. Connor Bates 6-2, 6-3
6. Evan Beck def. Caleb Yoder 4-6, 7-5, (10-6)
Doubles
1. Boussom/Cafe def. Popovic/Zamora 8-3
2. Ciudad/Sharma def. Gray/Yoder 8-4
3. Friesen/Luke Rush def. Bates/Fonseca 8-2
