April 8, 2011
MUNCIE, Ind. - Despite playing a trio of three-set singles matches, the Northern Illinois men's tennis team fell at Ball State, 7-0, on Friday afternoon. The Cardinals and Huskies began their match with doubles action indoors before moving outdoors to play the singles matches.
"Ball State was just a bit better all the way through the lineup today but we certainly had some chances to win in almost every match," said NIU head coach Patrick Fisher.
Indoors in doubles action, Bryant Poggensee-Wei and Tyler Stephens came the closest to picking up a victory for NIU, falling 8-5 at number three.
"It was an unusual match because of the 30 minute break while we moved from indoors to outside," said Fisher. "I thought we were able to use that to our advantage a little bit because we came out better in singles."
After moving outside, each of the top three singles matches went to three sets. Maksym Bartiuk came up just short at number one against Dalton Albertin, 7-5, 3-6, 7-5. Axel Lagerlof was bettered by Cliff Morrison at number two, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3. At number three, Roman Turtygin took the first set from Zane Smith, 6-4, before falling in the second, 7-6. Smith won the third-set tiebreaker, 11-9.
In addition to those three set matches, Maksym Lagutin was edged in a pair of tiebreakers by Alexandre Brym, falling 7-6, 7-6.
"The final score was obviously not indicative of how close the match was," said Fisher. "We had chances to take control, and I thought at times that we were in control, so it was a bit disheartening to lose the way we did.
"We had our chances but we just didn't finish. That is the next step for our team, learning how to finish, learning how to win tight matches. Sometimes that can be a difficult step but that is where we are and we have to get over that hump.
NIU continues its three-match road swing through the State of Indiana on Saturday when it travels to IUPUI. The match against the Jaguars is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m.
Ball State 7, Northern Illinois 0
Doubles
1. Albertin/Morrison (BSU) def. Lagerlof/Turtygin (NIU), 8-3
2. Z. Smith/Carpenter (BSU) def. Bartiuk/Lagutin (NIU), 8-4
3. Bussert/Sanson (BSU) def. Poggensee-Wei/Stephens (NIU), 8-5
Singles
1. Dalton Albertin (BSU) def. Maksym Bartiuk (NIU), 7-5, 3-6, 7-5
2. Cliff Morrison (BSU) def. Axel Lagerlof (NIU), 6-2, 3-6, 6-3
3. Zane Smith (BSU) def. Roman Turtygin (NIU), 4-6, 7-6, 11-9
4. Alexandre Brym (BSU) def. Maksym Lagutin (NIU), 7-6, 7-6
5. Austin Sansone (BSU) def. Bryant Poggensee-Wei (NIU), 6-1, 6-0
6. Andres Monroy (BSU) def. Tyler Stephens (NIU), 6-2, 6-0
