Blue Raiders sweep regular season finale over Wichita State, Tennessee State

Sunday, April 13

Murfreesboro, Tenn.

11:00 A.M.

Middle Tennessee

Wichita State

4/13/2025 8:07:00 PM | Men's Tennis

Box Score 1 Box Score 2 Photo Gallery

By: Logan Hasselbach

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – It was a happy day at the MTSU Outdoor Tennis Complex as the Middle Tennessee men's tennis team celebrated its senior, Rostislav Halfinger, with two strong wins. The Blue Raiders first swept Wichita State, 4-0, in the opening match of the day before downing Tennessee State 6-1 in the regular season finale.

It was all Raiders, all day, starting with a quick doubles point against the Shockers. The top tandem of Karim Al-Amin and Ondrej Horak were fast to finish their court, ending with a marathon rally to win the top court 6-1. Halfinger and partner Kristian Thomas were not far behind, clinching the doubles point at court three by a score of 6-3.

Pivoting to singles, MTSU did not falter with Horak taking a straight-set win at court two, 6-4, 6-3. After a difficult opening set on court five, Igor Mandou Berranger came back strong in the following two sets to put the Blue Raiders within one (0-6, 6-1, 6-4). The first clinch of the day came from Al-Amin at court one, who had secured a late break over his Shocker opponent to take the first set. The two were locked in a tight tiebreaker battle in the second set when the Wichita State player was forced to retire (6-4, 6-6, WR), securing the sweep for Middle Tennessee.

After a short break, the Blue Raiders picked up right where they left off, easily securing the doubles point over in-state foe Tennessee State. The court one pairing of Horak and Al-Amin picked up the first win of the evening at 6-3 and Jakub Kroslak and partner Halfinger on court two were right behind, winning their match with the same score to clinch another early advantage.

Mandou Berranger snagged another singles win, this time at court six over his Tiger opponent. The Frenchman dominated his match all the way through, picking up the 6-1, 6-2 victory. Just seconds later, Kroslak got the win on court three in his first match returning to the lineup. A back-and-forth opening set saw the junior take the lead and he proceeded to win six games in a row to win 6-4, 6-0.

Matsuoka found difficulty at court four in his final match of the day, dropping 6-4, 6-1 for the first Tennessee State point of the evening.

Halfinger, after going unfinished earlier in the day, won his final regular season match in Murfreesboro with a strong 6-4, 6-2 results on court five to earn the clinch. Not long after, Al-Amin picked up his fourth combined win of the day, all at court one. The junior battled it out with his Tennessee State counterpart, emerging with the 6-4, 6-4 victory to put the Blue Raiders up 5-1.
Horak was the last player to finish his match at court two in a three-set thriller. After dropping the first set 6-1 to his counterpart, he kept pushing to take the second set 6-3. It was a nailbiter to the end, with both players dropping match points, but Horak found a way and got the win on a deuce point break point (1-6, 6-3, 7-5).