05/15/2009

Clippers Fall Short in Semifinals 5-3

Results

Altamonte Springs, FL - The dream season of playing for the National Championship fell one match short as the No. 12 ranked Concordia College men's tennis team lost in the NCAA Division II Men's Tennis Championship Semifinals to the No. 2 ranked Bucs of Barry University this afternoon by a final score of 5-3 at Sanlando Park in Altamonte Springs, FL. The loss ends the Clippers 20-match winning streak.

The Bucs took control early with an 8-2 win at No. 2 doubles by Ales Svigelj and Andrew Sharnov over senior Karim Belhadj (London, England) and freshman Viktor Kim (Tashkent, Uzbekistan).

The Clippers evened the score at 1-1 when sophomore Alex Grubin (Belgrade, Serbia) and freshman Andrey Boldarev (Tashkent, Uzbekistan) took an 8-4 decision over Emanuel Fraitzl and Max Wimmer at No. 1 doubles. The match swung in the Clippers favor after junior Henning Ruenz (Muelheim-Kaerlich, Germany) and sophomore Richi Malobicky (Pulheim, Germany) defeated Jakub Fejfar and Sergio Velez 8-6 at No. 3 doubles.

In singles play, the Clippers amassed a 3-1 lead with a 6-3, 6-3 win by Boldarev over Fraitzl in the No. 2 singles position.

The Bucs began their comeback at No. 6 singles when Fejfar beat Ruenz 6-4, 6-1 and Werschel topped Kim 6-1, 6-2 at No. 5 singles to even the match at 3-3.

Barry would take a 4-3 lead by virtue of Sharnov winning a 7-5, 6-1 match over Malobicky at No. 3 singles.

With one victory away from advancing into the NCAA Finals, Wimmer rebounded from a 6-2 first set loss to take the next two sets 6-2, 6-3 over Belhadj at No. 4 singles to propel the Bucs into tomorrow's NCAA Championship Match.

At. No. 1 singles, Grubin took the first set 6-1 and was all tied at 5-5 in the second set when Barry took the fifth and final point of the match.

The Bucs advance into Saturday's NCAA Championship Final against the No. 1 ranked and defending champion Pirates of Armstrong Atlantic State University, who defeated No. 6 ranked Hawaii Pacific University in today's other NCAA semifinal by a score of 5-1.

The Clippers season comes to a close with a record of 21-4.