SOUTHFIELD, Mich. - The Lake Superior State University men's tennis program (2-1) came away with a highly competitive 4-3 victory over the Blue Devils of Lawrence Tech (1-4) on Saturday.
The Lakers got off to a strong start in doubles play as Lluc Limongi Ollers (Mallorca, Spain) and Lezan Koyuncu (Cologne, Germany) teamed up for an emphatic 6-1 victory in the No. 2 doubles match, but the Blue Devils were able to draw even by claiming the top doubles position in a tiebreaker against Aaron Osmond (Cheltenham, U.K.) and Maxence Hamon (Montreal, Quebec). With the doubles match on the line, the duo of Jordi Fraile Raton (Sant Cugat del Valles, Spain) and Raul Velasco Garcia (Barcelona, Spain) fought neck and neck with their opponents, eventually resulting in a 6-6 stalemate in need of a tiebreaker, but the pair rallied for a dominant 7-1 performance in the tiebreaker to secure the doubles point and the early 1-0 lead overall going into singles play.
Fraile wasted no time extending the Lakers' lead to 2-0 with a strong 6-0, 6-2 win in the No. 4 singles match, but the Blue Devils responded with a victory at the No. 5 spot by a score of 6-4, 7-6 despite Velasco giving his opponent all he could handle in a second set tiebreaker that ended at 15-13. Then, Osmond, the reigning Great Lakes Athletic Conference Men's Tennis Player of the Week, was able to remain undefeated on the year in singles play with a hard-fought 7-6, 7-5 win at the top singles position. However, Lawrence Tech simply would not quit, earning three set victories in both the No. 2 and No. 3 singles matches to knot up the score at 3-3 and turn all attention to Koyuncu with the match on the line. The Blue Devils started off strong in the No. 6 singles match, taking the first set, but Koyuncu proved to be the hero, shaking off the early blemish and rallying back to win his match by a final score of 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, securing the 4-3 overall match victory for the Lakers.
The Lakers return to action on Friday, Feb. 17 when they travel to take on Walsh with the first serve scheduled for 6 p.m.