OMAHA, Neb. -- The University of North Dakota men's tennis team enjoyed a second straight weekend of action in its non-championship portion of the season, heading to Omaha for the Bluejay Invitational, hosted by Creighton.
"This weekend was a great opportunity to compete against three of our biggest regional rivals," said UND associate head coach
Kyle Anderson. "Our doubles was a bright spot with all three teams having success against very quality opponents. There were some positives in singles, but we will continue to look for more consistency throughout the lineup to develop into the team we are capable of."
FORMAT
The two-day event consisted of hidden duals, which meant that there were not any draws; rather there were matches between individuals or doubles teams from one school facing another school, all for individual results and not team points, since duals are not allowed to be played during the fall.
The following teams competed in the men's matches:
Creighton
Drake
Omaha
North Dakota
DAY ONE
Facing a nearly three-hour rain delay, North Dakota battled host-Creighton in doubles action while taking on Drake in singles play. Two-man play was a dominant effort by the Fighting Hawks against the Bluejays, rolling to a trio of wins while picking up a win in singles action against the Bulldogs.
6-4 proved to be the magic score for the green and white, capturing all three doubles matches by the same score. The top pairing of
Nikita Snezhko and
Gerhard Sullwald started the action with the first victory of the day before
Riley Odell and
Cian McDonnell followed with the second win of the day.
Petro Alex and
Edmond Aynedjian made it a perfect day on the doubles court with the third 6-4 triumph of the day over Creighton.
In singles play against Drake, UND battled on every court, but fell in five of the six matches. Snezhko picked up the victory for the Hawks, rolling to a 7-6 (4), 6-0 win on the No. 4 court to end the first day of play on a high note.
DAY TWO
The second day of action saw a pair of doubles hidden duals against Omaha and Drake and a singles showdown against the Mavericks and Creighton.
In the opening contest against Omaha, it was more of the same for the Fighting Hawks and their two-man play, rolling to three straight wins to remain perfect in doubles play. Snezhko and Sullwald battled to a 7-6 (4) victory on the top court before McDonnell and Odell picked up their second straight 6-4 win at the second position. Alex and Aynedjian made it a 3-for-3 sweep over Omaha-based foes with a 6-1 triumph at the No. 3 spot.
UND saw its perfect streak of doubles play come to an end in the final matchup against Drake with a pair of defeats at the top-two positions, but Alex and Aynedjian closed out their perfect weekend with a 6-4 victory on the third court.
Moving to singles play against Omaha, Alex kept his strong weekend going with a 6-4, 7-5 victory at the No. 6 position while McDonnell added a second singles win over the Mavericks by a 6-4, 7-5 identical score.
The Hawks closed out the weekend with a singles showdown against Creighton, notching a trio of wins. Sullwald picked up a victory on the top courts with a 6-3, 7-5 score before McDonnell battled a three-set triumph by bouncing back from a 7-6 defeat in the first set to post a 6-2 win in the second frame and a 10-8 tiebreaker win at the third position. Alex closed out his weekend with another strong singles performance with a 6-0, 6-5 win at the No. 7 spot.
North Dakota will now prepare for the Fall ITA Regional on Oct. 21-24 from Lincoln, Neb.
