Team effort prevails Men's Tennis past SIUE, 5-2

Box Score

MOREHEAD, Ky. - Morehead State men's tennis defeated SIU Edwardsville 5-2 on Friday afternoon at Sadler Courts.
 
The Eagles are 6-10 overall and 5-3 in conference, and with one match left to play are in position to take the No. 2 spot entering the OVC tournament next week. The Cougars (8-13, 4-4) have lost three of their last four matches.
 
"We showed great resilience today," said Head Coach Kevin Fulton. "After an excellent week of practice we really withstood the barrage of momentum that SIUE threw at us today."
 
Morehead State jumped out to an early 1-0 lead. Sophomore Sebastian Penaloza and freshman Ognjen Sunjevaric started the day with a 6-3 victory over Matthew Hutchinson and Jack Desse. Not to be outdone, the upperclassmen tandem of senior Nick Mercer and senior Enrique Samudio won 6-4 over Dan Lineberry and Nico Kuehn.
 
Junior Ritchie Kruuenberg nabbed his second win in his last three matches, defeating Tristan Houle in straight sets 7-5, 6-2. Kruunenberg is now 4-3 in OVC singles play.
 
Senior Gabriel Ruiz put an end to a three-match losing streak with a 6-1, 6-2 victory against Hutchinson.
 
Mercer and Lineberry battled back-and-forth in what could be considered the match of the day. Mercer took an early lead after the 7-6 first set win, but Lineberry evened the score taking the second set 6-2. The third set was all Mercer as he came out on top 6-1.
 
Sunjevaric defeated Desse is straight sets 6-2, 7-5. The win for Sunjevaric marked the first time in his career he has won back-to-back OVC matches, following his win last week at EKU.
 
The regular season comes to an end on Saturday at 1 p.m. with senior day at Sadler Courts against Eastern Illinois.