Kansas City
Western Illinois
WIU Outlasts UMKC In Tight 4-3 Victory
3/30/2008 6:00:00 PM | Men's Tennis
Kansas City, Mo. -- The UMKC men's tennis team dropped a heartbreaking 4-3 decision to Western Illinois on Sunday afternoon at the Plaza Tennis Center in Kansas City. The Kangaroos battled back from a 3-0 deficit, but the Leathernecks claimed the match with a three-set win from Francisco Ortiz win at the No. 4 singles position.
In doubles, Western Illinois claimed the first match of the day when Ortiz and Michael Tiu topped Nick Mader and Nick Patonai at the No. 3 position by an 8-3 score. The Kangaroos then fought back to even the tally at one all when Patrick Smith and Serge Ristivojevic topped Zach Frisch and Neil Lesinski, 8-5, at the one line.
In the deciding match, UMKC's duo of Dennis Schwarz and Erwin Quintanilla stormed out to a 4-0 lead over Martin Bostrom and Sean Ragee-Nelson at the two line. The WIU pair, however, fought back to win the match by the count of 8-5 to put the Leathernecks up 1-0 in the team race.
The Leathernecks extended their advantage to 3-0 with victories from Andy Jones and Ragee-Nelson at the No. 5 and No. 6 positions. Jones defeated Mader by the score of 6-0, 6-1, while Ragee-Nelson topped Patonai, 6-1, 6-3.
Schwarz then got the Kangaroos on the board with his 6-3, 6-4 win over Lesinski at the the three line, before Smith followed with a straight set 7-6 (3), 6-3 victory over Bostrom at the No. 2 position. With the win, Smith handed Bostrom his first loss of the season, as he had a 14-0 singles record heading into Sunday's match.
At the one line, Ristivojevic then completed the UMKC comeback with his victory over Frisch. Frisch opened the match with an easy 6-1 win over Ristivojevic, but the Kangaroo freshman fought back to claim the next two sets and the match by the scores of 6-4, 6-2.
With the match hanging in the balance, all eyes turned to the No. 4 position. Ortiz opened with a 7-6 (4) victory in the tiebreaker in the first set before Quintanilla forced a third set with a 6-3 win in the second. In an all-out battle, Ortiz came out victorious in the third, 7-5, to send the Leathernecks to the win.
UMKC (4-7, 2-2) will return to action against Centenary on April 11 in Macomb, Ill.
Western Illinois 4, UMKC 3
Singles Results
No. 1 ? Serge Ristivojevic (UMKC) def. Zach Frisch (WIU), 1-6, 6-4, 6-2
No. 2 ? Patrick Smith (UMKC) def. Martin Bostrom (WIU), 7-6 (3), 6-3
No. 3 ? Dennis Schwarz (UMKC) def. Neil Lesinski (WIU), 6-3, 6-4
No. 4 ? Francisco Ortiz (WIU) def. Erwin Quintanilla (UMKC), 7-6 (4), 3-6, 7-5
No. 5 ? Andy Jones (WIU) def. Nick Mader (UMKC), 6-0, 6-1
No. 6 ? Sean Ragee-Nelson (WIU) def. Nick Patonai (UMKC), 6-1, 6-3
Doubles Results
No. 1 ? Smith/Ristivojevic (UMKC) def. Frisch/Lesinski (WIU), 8-5
No. 2 ? Bostrom/Ragee-Nelson (WIU) def. Schwarz/Quintanilla (UMKC), 8-5
No. 3 ? Ortiz/Michael Tiu (WIU) def. Mader/Patonai (UMKC), 8-3
Players Mentioned
