GRAND FORKS, N.D. – A marathon conference competition ended in sweet victory for the North Dakota men's tennis team as they fended off a late rally from Drake to hang on for a 4-3 win inside Choice Health & Fitness on Saturday afternoon.
The fifth straight win for the UND men propels them to 13-6 overall with a 2-0 conference showing. Meanwhile, the Bulldogs dropped just their third match of the season and move to 14-3 overall.
It all began with a clean and gritty sweep for the Fighting Hawks in doubles competition, kicked off by a swift 6-3 win from the top court by
Leo Galliano and
Walker Valentine, while the next two matches went into tiebreakers with mirrored scores and identical results.
Justin Ilic and
Kotaro Matsumura rallied back in a tight-knit back-and-forth battle to emerge victorious at 7-6 (3) to clinch the doubles point before
Christos Alex and
Darrshan Suresh Kumar battled for another 7-6 (3) win for North Dakota to sweep duo competition.
Now ahead 1-0, the Fighting Hawks continued to hold on to the momentum in singles play. Galliano went to work early and faced a second set thriller before taking home the 6-2, 7-5 win from the No. 1 court. At the second position, Suresh Kumar dominated for a pair of 6-2, 6-2 wins to extend UND's lead.
But then the Drake Bulldogs came storming back.
Ilic fell in an all-out 6-3, 7-5 battle at the No. 3 spot before Alex dropped at the No. 4 court by a score of 6-3, 6-4. The final blow came in the form of a retirement due to injury after Valentine went down at the No. 6 position where he was locked into a 7-6 (2), 4-6, 6-6 battle at the time.
With the score now set at 3-3, the spotlight turned to the No. 4 courts where Matsumura was also working through a powerhouse of a match. After cruising through the first set for a 6-1, the junior suffered a narrow 7-6 (9-7) loss in the second set to force a winner-takes-all third. The back-and-forth battle continued well into that final set, but it was Matsumura who fended off the late opponent rally to clinch the individual and team win with a 6-4 victory.
The home stretch will continue for North Dakota men's tennis with a Friday, April 3 match against Omaha at 4:30 p.m. inside Choice Health & Fitness.
For more information on North Dakota men's tennis, visit FightingHawks.com or follow on social media @UNDmtennis.
