Men's Tennis Wraps-up Road Swing

Men's Tennis | 3/4/2017 8:52:00 PM

SAN ANTONIO, Texas – No. 17 Southeastern closed out its three-match Texas road-trip by splitting its weekend contests, toppling No. 23 St. Mary's 5-3 before suffering the first loss of the season against Laredo on Saturday afternoon in San Antonio, Texas.

The split moves the Savage Storm to 5-1 on the season as they will return home on March 9 to face Ferris State at the Southeastern Tennis Complex.

SE opened its Friday matchup by taking a 2-1 advantage through doubles play.

After falling at the top doubles spot, the Storm recovered with Netanel Alcabas and Kellian Bouteiller taking the number two spot 8-5 to even the match at 1-1.

Mislav Colak and Petar Popovic would put SE in front 2-1 with an 8-4 win at number three.

The Rattlers would rally and pick up a three-set win at number two and a straight-set victory at number three to take a 3-2 lead.

However, the bottom half of the singles lineup would deliver for SE, beginning with Colak at the number four spot where he rallied for a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 win to even the match at 3-3.

Popovic would put the Storm in front with a 7-5, 6-3 win at number five, while Guillermo Pardos would clinch the victory with a 6-2, 1-6, 6-3 win at number six.

The matchup with No. 6 LCC got off to a great start for the Storm, first with Alberto Blesa and Jack Tiller picking up an 8-5 win at one doubles.

That was followed by an 8-4 win at number two by Alcabas and Bouteiller, with Colak and Popovic completing the sweep with a 9-8 (4) win at number three for a 3-0 lead.

Unfortunately, the tables turned sharply for SE in singles play as LCC won five-straight single matches, four of them in straight-sets, to flip the momentum and hand the Storm a 5-3 loss.