Mercer Drops Close Battle With Army

Friday, February 9

West Point, N.Y.

9 a.m.

Mercer University

Army

2/9/2024 11:24:00 PM | Men's Tennis

Box Score Box Score

By: Todd Anderson, anderson_t02@mercer.edu

WEST POINT, N.Y. – Home-standing Army used a tiebreaker to pick up a clutch win in doubles action, and then fought off a hard charge by the Mercer men's tennis team in singles action to register a 4-1 win over the Bears on Friday morning at the Malek Tennis Center.

Sophomore Nemanja Stefanovic turned in a straight-sets victory at No. 1 singles to give the Bears (1-6) their only point of the day in a seesaw matchup on the service academy's campus. The Orange & Black won the opening set in a trio of singles matchups, but the Black Knights (3-2) still managed to eke out the team win.

Army's tandem of Vishnu Bodavula and Samuel Haikal thwarted MU's Andrew Branicki and Lucas Dini at No. 1 doubles, and the Black Knights used a 7-4 tiebreaker on court No. 2 to log the doubles point. Samuel Barrow and Samuel MacLeod had split the first 12 games with Army's Alan Ton and Marcus Sebastain, but that match went unfinished.

Jake Huarte used the momentum of a first-set tiebreaker win to finish off a straight-sets victory over Dini at No. 2 singles, while Ton won 6-4, 6-0 over Branicki on court No. 6 to give Army a 3-1 edge on the team scoreboard. Haikal finished off a 6-2, 6-3 triumph over Marceau Fouilhoux at No. 4 singles moments later to clinch the final team outcome.

Barrow won his first set at No. 5 singles, 6-4, and held a 4-3 lead in the second set when play concluded. MacLeod won his opening set on court No. 3 with Vis Bodavula by a 6-4 final, before Bodavula knotted the match back up with a 6-2 triumph in the second set. That matchup went unfinished as well.

The Bears will be back in action again on Saturday at Army's Malek Tennis Center when they engage in a neutral site matchup with Georgetown (2-2). That match is scheduled to get underway at 5 p.m.