TROY, Ill. – The McKendree University men's tennis team continued its strong play in the 2021-22 season here Saturday afternoon by posting an impressive 5-2 win over 28th-ranked Rockhurst University in a non-conference match at Triad High School.
With the win, McKendree improves to 8-1 on the season and 6-0 at home, while Rockhurst fell to 5-4. The win was the second straight in the series against Rockhurst as the Hawks now lead the all-time series 4-3 against the Bearcats.
"This is an important victory in the history of our program. The guys keep grinding and deserve all the positive results they are creating together," McKendree men's tennis head coach René Vidal said.
Saturday's match began with doubles as for the fourth consecutive match, the Bearcats would lose the doubles point as Rockhurst won two of three doubles matches to earn the point and take a 1-0 lead in the match.
The Bearcats began doubles with a win at the No. 1 spot as junior
Leonardo Frederico (Tujucas-Santa Cantrina, Brazil/UniCesumar) and graduate student
Boriss Kamdem (Ghent, Beligium/Tulsa) won their eighth straight match and improved to 10-1 on the season with a 6-2 win over Rockhurst's duo of Joe Harris and Brian King.
Rockhurst, though, would win at both No. 2 and No. 3 doubles to earn the point, including picking up a 7-6 (9-7) win at the No. 2 spot against McKendree's duo of junior
Lorenzo del Biondo (Pescora, Italy/Abraham Baldwin College) and sophomore
Nanase Ebisu (Osaka, Japan/Hawai'i Pacific).
At No. 3 doubles, McKendree's team of sophomore
Subash Paramasivan (Chennai, India/Saraswathi Kendra) and senior
Vishnu Prasad (Chennai, India/National Institute of Open Schooling) fell 7-5 to Agustin Cortes and Andres Sahagun.
Trailing 1-0 in the match, the Bearcats would open singles play with a win at the No. 2 spot as Kamdem, who is ranked 52nd in latest Division II singles player rankings, picked up a 6-4, 6-2 win over Cortes to tie the match a 1-all.
Rockhurst would use a win at No. 3 singles by Santiago Rodriguez over Paramasivan, 6-2, 6-4 to take a 2-1 lead in the match.
Frederico moved to 9-4 on the season at No. 1 singles following his straight set (6-4, 6-4) win over Rockhurst's Louis Keiner to tie the match at 2-2.
Sophomore
Julappagari Anurag Reddy (Dubai, UAE/CBSE School Nationals) gave the Bearcats a 3-2 lead in the match after he earned a 7-5, 6-2 win at No. 4 singles over Cris Cequea-Rivero. Reddy won his fifth straight match in singles and improved his record to 8-2 on the season.
The Bearcats would then seal the match victory with a win at No. 5 singles by freshman
David Leon Mantilla (Lima, Peru/Colegio Parroquial Santa Rosa de Lima) as Mantilla defeated Sahagun, 6-2, 6-3 to improve to 5-2 on the season in singles.
McKendree would complete the match with a fifth win in singles as Prasad, who was playing his first match of the season, picked up a straight sets win of 6-2, 6-2 at the No. 6 spot over Harris.
The Bearcats will look to win its second straight match and ninth overall match of the season on Sunday, March 27 with a 1 p.m. match in Searcy, Ark., against 48th-ranked Harding University.
