Middle Tennessee State University Athletics
Birtan Duran, Karim Al-Amin and Ondrej Horak Earn Weekly Men’s Tennis CUSA Honors
2/25/2026 12:32:00 PM | Men's Tennis
DALLAS, Texas — Middle Tennessee junior Birtan Duran earned his first Conference USA Athlete of the Week honor, while seniors Karim Al-Amin and Ondrej Horak were named the CUSA Men's Doubles Team of the Week for the second time this season, as announced by the league office on Wednesday afternoon.
In a thrilling match on Saturday against Old Dominion with a 45-minute rain delay, where the score was tied at 3-3, junior Birtan Duran made a remarkable impact on court 5. Despite a narrow loss in the first set tiebreak to Aryan Saleh, he demonstrated resilience by winning the second set in a tiebreak and then took charge in the third set, securing a 6-2 victory. Duran's focus and aggressive play clinched the exciting 4-3 win for Middle Tennessee. The following day, against Rice, Duran continued his impressive performance with a solid 6-4, 6-2 victory over Kabeer Kapasi on court 4, further extending the lead to 3-1 for MTSU. MTSU went 3-0 in the Battle in the Boro and had a 9-0 home record.
On to our doubles team, number 38 Karim Al-Amin and Ondrej Horak secured the doubles point with an exciting 7-6 (7-2) victory against Utah's Balthazar Huss and Dante Teramo at court one. The following day, in their doubles match against ODU, Karim Al-Amin and Ondrej Horak continued their strong performance by defeating Thomas Nelson and J-Karim OlivierDeSar 6-3. MTSU went 3-0 in the Battle in the Boro and had a 9-0 home record.
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In a thrilling match on Saturday against Old Dominion with a 45-minute rain delay, where the score was tied at 3-3, junior Birtan Duran made a remarkable impact on court 5. Despite a narrow loss in the first set tiebreak to Aryan Saleh, he demonstrated resilience by winning the second set in a tiebreak and then took charge in the third set, securing a 6-2 victory. Duran's focus and aggressive play clinched the exciting 4-3 win for Middle Tennessee. The following day, against Rice, Duran continued his impressive performance with a solid 6-4, 6-2 victory over Kabeer Kapasi on court 4, further extending the lead to 3-1 for MTSU. MTSU went 3-0 in the Battle in the Boro and had a 9-0 home record.
On to our doubles team, number 38 Karim Al-Amin and Ondrej Horak secured the doubles point with an exciting 7-6 (7-2) victory against Utah's Balthazar Huss and Dante Teramo at court one. The following day, in their doubles match against ODU, Karim Al-Amin and Ondrej Horak continued their strong performance by defeating Thomas Nelson and J-Karim OlivierDeSar 6-3. MTSU went 3-0 in the Battle in the Boro and had a 9-0 home record.
FOLLOW THE BLUE RAIDERS
Follow Middle Tennessee men's tennis on social media on Facebook (BlueRaiderMensTennis), Twitter (MT_MensTennis) and Instagram (MT_MensTennis)
Players Mentioned
MTEN: Middle Tennessee vs Rice
Sunday, February 22
MTEN: Middle Tennessee vs Old Dominion
Saturday, February 21
MTEN: Middle Tennessee vs Utah
Friday, February 20
MTEN: Middle Tennessee vs Louisville
Friday, February 13
