Middle Tennessee State University Athletics
Ayllon Prado, Mayoral advance after first day of ITA Ohio Valley Regionals
10/8/2026 9:19:00 PM | Men's Tennis
COLLEGE GROVE, Tenn. – Middle Tennessee Men's Tennis wrapped up its first showing at the ITA Ohio Valley Regionals at The Farm and Forge Club, with two Blue Raiders advancing to the main singles draw to begin tomorrow.
Antoine Mayoral and Asier Ayllon Prado displaced each of their two opponents in the qualifying rounds to advance to Friday's main draw, while John Popowich fell in a tight first round but won his consolation match, positively contributing to his ITA ranking.
Starting off strong, Mayoral defeated IU-Indianapolis' Owen Nguyen in straight sets, 6-2, 6-2, to advance to the second round of qualifying. The Frenchman stayed hot, claiming victory in straight-set fashion against Xavier's Tony Sifuentes, 7-5, 6-1, to advance to Friday's main draw.
In Ayllon Prado's matchup, the Spaniard began on the back foot after he was defeated in a close 7-5 set against Southern Indiana's Jy Hibbert. The junior refused to concede, battling to even the scores with a 6-4 set two victory. His improved confidence after the tying point carried over into set three, as he handedly defeated Hibbert to advance to the second round of qualifying, 6-2.
In the second round, Ayllon Prado met Dayton's Kaiaitz Mendibe, who he defeated in straight sets, 7-5, 6-3 to qualify for the main draw.
Popowich did not fare as well in his opening matchup of the competition, falling in three sets to Vanderbilt's Roshan Santhosh. He took the first set, 7-5, before falling 4-6 and 2-6 in the two sets to follow.
The Sandy Hook, Conn., native rebounded in the consolation bracket, coming away with the victory against IU-Indianapolis' Ellison Minnaar in a tight three-set battle. Popowich lost the first set, 3-6, before earning the second set, 7-5. The final set went to a best-of 10 match, in which the Blue Raider won, 10-5, for his first ITA tournament match victory.
Ayllon Prado and Mayoral will join Clement Mayoral, Birtan Duran, Eric Crivei and Aryan Saleh for Friday's 64-team main singles draw on Friday morning.
At midday on Friday, Duran and Ayllon Prado both face opponents from the Hoosier State, with Purdue's Jacob Lee and Indiana's Sam Landau on the cards, respectively.
During the 12:15 p.m. slate, Crivei will meet Louisville's Hamza El Amine, before Saleh matches up with Vanderbilt's Hugo Coquelin at 2 p.m.
Antoine will commence an all-blue school affair at 2:15 p.m., with Kentucky's Mikael Arseneault, before Clement will conclude the first round of the singles main draw with Tennessee's Orel Kimhi at 2:30 p.m.
The doubles section of the tournament will begin at 9 a.m. on Friday, with MTSU players making up three of the 64 pairs competing.
Clement and Antoine will face off against Belmont's Cagan Efe Tufekci and Sean Clark to begin their slate at 9 a.m. Ayllon Prado and Popowich will find IU-Indianapolis' Cameron Kryscio and Minnaar on the other end of the court, while Crivei and Saleh have Xavier's Lukas Grossman and Andrew Spurck as their opponents at 10:15 a.m.
The draws and schedule for the tournament can be followed here, while live streams of each of the 16 courts at The Farm and Forge Club can be found here (1-9, 10-18).
Results
Singles
Asier Ayllon Prado (MTSU) def. Jy Hibbert (Southern Indiana), 5-7, 6-4, 6-2
Antoine Mayoral (MTSU) def. Owen Nguyen (IU-Indianapolis), 6-2, 6-2
Roshan Santhosh (Vanderbilt) def. John Popowich (MTSU), 5-7, 6-4, 6-2
Asier Ayllon Prado (MTSU) def. Kaiaitz Mendibe (Dayton), 7-5, 6-3
Antoine Mayoral (MTSU) def. Tony Sifuentes (Xavier), 7-5, 6-1
John Popowich (MTSU) def. Ellison Minnaar (IU-Indianapolis), 3-6, 7-5, 10-5
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