Shaw men fall in Regional Tennis action

Bloomsburg Rallies to Defeat Shaw 5-4 in Men's Tournament Regionals

May 6, 2010
 
The Bloomsburg (PA) men’s tennis team opened up the NCAA Atlantic Regional tournament on Thursday with a come from behind 5-4 victory over Shaw (NC).  The Huskies from Bloomsburg found themselves in an early 2-1 hole following doubles competition but were able to bounce back with four singles victories to close out the match.
 
The match began with an 8-6 win for Shaw’s Milos Stankovic and Kalada Kienka over Bloomsburg’s Eric Dove and Mark Schroeder at the number two position.  Fabio Falcato and Mehdi Ben-Cheikh extended Shaw’s lead to 2-0 with an 8-6 win of their own against Fernando Perez and Brandon Cummings in the top spot.  Unfortunately for Shaw, they were forced to forfeit the number three doubles spot which cut the lead to 2-1.
 
The Bears of Shaw carried the momentum into singles competition, with Kienka beating Lee Wexler 6-1, 6-0 in the three position.  Cummings gave Bloomsburg their first singles victory at number five with an impressive 6-1, 6-4 win against Antoine Jacobs.  Ben-Chekh answered the call in the fourth position with a 6-0, 6-4 win against Schroeder to push Shaw to within one victory of the match clincher.  With their backs against the wall, Bloomsburg’s Perez at one and Dove at two knocked off Falcato and Stankovic by identical 7-5, 6-1 scores to rally Bloomsburg to a 5-4 match victory.
 
"The match went as we expected,” head Bloomsburg coach Marty Coyne said.  “Shaw was very good at the top four positions. We knew that we were in for a battle today. Despite the win, I felt that we were outplayed in a lot of spots and we will need to improve to have an opportunity to win tomorrow."
 
The win improves Bloomsburg to 12-8 on the season and moves them into the title match against the winner of West Virginia Wesleyan and Charleston (WV).  Shaw, meanwhile, drops to 20-2 and has concluded their 2009-10 campaign.