BELLEVILLE, Ill. – The No. 45 ranked McKendree University men's tennis team rebounded following its 5-2 setback on Friday to 13th-ranked Indianapolis here Saturday afternoon by picking up a 5-2 win over 51st-ranked Lewis University at Southwestern Illinois College (SWIC).
With the win, McKendree improves to 13-2 overall and 2-1 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC), while Lewis falls to 10-6 overall and 0-2 in the GLVC.
In Friday's match, Lewis opened the match by picking up the doubles point after winning two of three doubles matches as the Flyers won at No. 1 and No. 2 doubles, while the Bearcats won at No. 3 doubles.
The Bearcats No. 1 doubles team of junior
Leonardo Frederico (Tujucas-Santa Cantrina, Brazil/UniCesumar) and graduate student
Boriss Kamdem (Ghent, Beligium/University of Tulsa) saw its 12 match winning streak snapped following a 6-3 loss to Lewis' No. 21 ranked duo of Juan Ramirez Mejia and David Ambrozic. Frederico and Kamdem, who fell to 14-2 on the season, are ranked 46th in the latest ITA Division II playing rankings.
At No. 2 doubles, junior
Lorenzo del Biondo (Pescora, Italy/Abraham Baldwin College) and sophomore
Nanase Ebisu (Osaka, Japan/Hawai'i Pacific) fell 6-4 to Lewis' duo of Oskar Lusti and Pedja Trifunovic.
McKendree's lone win in doubles came at the No. 3 spot in the line-up as sophomore
Subash Paramasivan (Chennai, India/Saraswathi Kendra) and senior
Vishnu Prasad (Chennai, India/National Institute of Open Schooling) picked up a 6-4 win over Lewis' duo of Oliwer Wierzbicki and Andrej Zoranovic.
In singles, the Bearcats picked up five wins to seal its 5-2 match victory. The Bearcats won at No. 1, No. 2, No. 4, No. 5 and No. 6 singles.
Frederico, who is ranked No. 67 in singles, won his sixth consecutive match as he earned a 7-5, 6-4 win at the No. 1 spot over Ramirez Mejia. Frederico has improved his record to 14-4 on the season.
Kamdem, who is ranked 59th in singles, improved to 12-4 on the season in singles as he picked up a hard-fought three set win at the No. 2 spot over Luski. Kamdem lost the first set, 6-3, before Kamdem rallied to win 7-5 in the second set to force a third set. In the third set, Kamdem picked up a 6-1 win.
Sophomore
Julappagari Anurag Reddy (Dubai, UAE/CBSE School Nationals) picked up a straight sets win at the No. 4 spot as he defeated Trifunovic, 7-5, 6-3.
The Bearcats fourth singles win came at the No. 5 spot as Prasad won 6-4, 7-6 (7-3), 11-9 over Wierzbicki.
McKendree's fifth and final singles win came at the No. 6 spot as del Biondo picked up a 6-1, 6-2 win over Zoranovic.
Lewis' lone singles win came at the No. 3 spot as Ambrozic collected a win in three sets against Paramasivan. Ambrozic opened by losing 6-3 in the first set, before Paramasivan won 6-2 in the second set to set up a third set. In the third set, Paramasivan fell 6-4.
The Bearcats will return to action on Friday, April 15 with a 2 p.m. match at SWIC against Southwest Baptist, before playing an 11 a.m. match in Evansville, Ind., on Saturday, April 16 against Southern Indiana. The SBU match was originally scheduled for Sunday, April 17, but was rescheduled for April 15.
