ST. LOUIS, Mo. – The University of Chicago men's tennis team dropped a tight 5-4 decision to Washington University-St. Louis on Sunday.
The No. 5-ranked Maroons fell to 15-3 and the No. 6-ranked Bears moved to 13-3.
Rain in the forecast moved the contest indoors. Doubles went UChicago's way 2-1. The No. 2 team of senior Max Hawkins and freshman Tyler Raclin dominated 8-1 and the No. 3 tandem of junior Bobby Bethke and sophomore Charlie Pei snagged an 8-6 victory.
Singles provided plenty of drama as three matches went to three sets. Freshman Erik Kerrigan made quick work of his match at No. 2 with scores of 6-2, 6-2. Junior Peter Leung grabbed the No. 6 spot 6-0, 4-6, 6-2.
With the team score tied at 4-4, it all came down to a third-set tiebreak at No. 4 singles. The Bears took the tiebreak 8-6.
"Every time these two teams get together it's a battle and today was no different," Head Coach Jay Tee said. "We traded blows for almost six hours but couldn't get the last point we needed. We competed so hard and showed some real grit to stay in the matches and to fight back when we were down. Now we need to work on closing when we are ahead in games, sets and matches. I feel great about where we are heading into UAAs and we hope to get another shot at them with something on the line."
Washington-St. Louis 5, UChicago 4
Singles
1. Johnny Wu (WUSTL) def. Nicolas Chua (UC) 6-0, 1-6, 6-4
2. Erik Kerrigan (UC) def. John Carswell (WUSTL) 6-2, 6-2
3. Bernardo Neves (WUSTL) def. Charlie Pei (UC) 7-5, 7-5
4. Jeremy Bush (WUSTL) def. Luke Tsai (UC) 6-4, 6-7 (5-7), 7-6 (8-6)
5. J.J. Kroot (WUSTL) def. Ninan Kumar (UC) 6-4, 6-3
6. Peter Leung (UC) def. Robin Engel (WUSTL) 6-0, 4-6, 6-2
Doubles
1. Jason Haugen/Konrad Kozlowski (WUSTL) def. Ninan Kumar/Erik Kerrigan (UC) 9-8
2. Tyler Raclin/Max Hawkins (UC) def. Jeremy Bush/J.J. Kroot (WUSTL) 8-1
3. Charlie Pei/Bobby Bethke (UC) def. Bernardo Neves/ Radha Vishnubholta (WUSTL) 8-6
NEXT MATCHES:
- Friday-Sunday, April 21-23 – UChicago at UAA Championship (at Altamonte Springs, Fla.)
