Blue Raiders bested by No. 20 Northwestern

Friday, February 27

Evanston, Ill.

2:30 p.m.

Middle Tennessee

Northwestern

2/27/2015 5:28:00 PM | Men's Tennis

MT falls 6-1 on the road

By: @MTAthletics

Box Score

EVANSTON, Ill. - Middle Tennessee men's tennis fell 6-1 on the road against No. 20 Northwestern on Friday afternoon.

The Blue Raiders move to 6-4 this year with this match being their first match out-of-state.

MT started the day with two doubles losses with Miguel Negre Fernandez and Robin Riethmueller pairing up at the No. 3 spot and dropping 1-8, followed by Yannick Born and Gian Issa falling at No. 2 doubles 1-8 to give the Wildcats their first point.

Ben Davis squared off with No. 93 nationally ranked Sam Shropshire on the top court in singles action where Shropshire snagged a 3-5 advantage in the first set before Davis retired to give Northwestern a 2-0 advantage.

The Wildcats' Fedor Baev grabbed a 3-6, 4-6 victory over Issa at the No. 5 position, while Victor Hoang was unable to take down Logan Straggs at No. 3, falling 3-6, 1-6.

Dima Zyhmantovich refused to go down without a fight after dropping the first set 3-6, he battled back to win the second set 6-3 but was unable to pull off the tiebreaker and ultimately fell 3-6, 6-3, 0-1 (8-10) at the No. 4 spot.

Ettore Zito faced the Wildcats' Strong Kirchheimer who is ranked 116th nationally in singles play. Kirchheimer would prevail on the second court with a 4-6, 4-6 win over Zito.

Reithmueller landed the Blue Raiders point in the match in a hard fought 7-5, 7-6 (7-5) win at the No. 6 spot against Alp Horoz.

The Blue Raiders will return to action on March 4th with a home match against Lipscomb.

#20 Northwestern University 6, Middle Tennessee State 1
Singles competition
1. #93 Sam Shropshire (NU) def. Ben Davis (MTSU) 5-3, retired
2. #116 Strong Kirchheimer (NU) def. Ettore Zito (MTSU) 6-4, 6-4
3. Logan Staggs (NU) def. Victor Hoang (MTSU) 6-3, 6-1
4. Mihir Kumar (NU) def. Dima Zyhmantovich (MTSU) 6-3, 3-6, 1-0 (10-8)
5. Fedor Baev (NU) def. Gian Issa (MTSU) 6-3, 6-4
6. Robin Riethmueller (MTSU) def. Alp Horoz (NU) 7-5, 7-6 (7-5)
Doubles competition
1. Fedor Baev/Strong Kirchheimer (NU) vs. Ben Davis/Victor Hoang (MTSU) 3-1, unfinished
2. Sam Shropshire/Alex Pasareanu (NU) def. Yannick Born/Gian Issa (MTSU) 8-1
3. Alp Horoz/Mihir Kumar (NU) def. Robin Riethmueller/Miguel Negre (MTSU) 8-1