The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
Men's Tennis Falls To Middle Tennessee, 4-2
4/13/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
April 13, 2003
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. ----- The UAB men's tennis team lost to Middle Tennessee, 4-2, here Sunday afternoon, in its final regular season match.
"We were in a position to win, but couldn't pull through at some positions," said UAB head coach Derek Tarr. "We have to find a way to close it out when we have chances. This is a disappointing loss, but we have to get prepared for the Conference USA Championships."
The Blazers (9-13, 2-1 C-USA) started the competition well, winning the doubles point with victories at the No. 1 and No. 2 positions. In the No. 1 slot, UAB's Patrick Suhrbier and Kristijan Mitrovski defeated Blue Raiders Trevor Short and Michael Staniak, 8-2. In the No. 2 match, Blazers Andre Maier and Dino Mancarella were victorious over Middle Tennessee's Daniel Klemetz and Brandon Allan, 8-6.
UAB's lone doubles loss came as Sanzaruz Zaman and Bastian Gruendler fell to Blue Raiders Kirk Jackson and Anant Sitaram, 8-4, in the No. 3 spot.
In singles, Middle Tennessee won four of five completed matches for the victory. The Blazers won the first set at the No. 2, No. 4 and No. 6 positions, but were unable to win any of the three. In the No. 2 tilt, UAB's Ivan Andreev took the first set from Blue Raider Jackson, 6-3, but fell, 6-0, in the second. In the third set, Andreev suffered from cramps and had to retire from the match, giving Jackson the win.
In No. 4 singles, Blazer Mitrovski won his first set, 6-2, against Middle Tennessee's Staniak. In the second set, Staniak recovered to win, 6-4, and took the match with a 6-1 win in the third set.
In the No. 6 slot, UAB's Zaman won the first set, 6-2, in his match against Blue Raider Allan. However, Allan rallied to win the second set, 6-3, and the third set, 6-2, for the victory.
Middle Tennessee's final singles win came in the No. 1 match as Klemetz defeated Blazer Gruendler, 6-2, 6-2.
UAB's Maier claimed the Blazers' lone singles win, coming from behind to beat Blue Raider Sitaram, 4-6, 6-4, 10-7, in the No. 3 spot.
The No. 5 tilt between UAB's Suhrbier and Rishan Kuruppu was stopped after Middle Tennessee claimed the win.
The Blazers travel to Milwaukee, Wisc. for the C-USA Championships starting Wednesday, April 16.
