Bowling Green State University Athletics
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Men's Tennis Drops Narrow Decision, 4-3
April 27, 2001 | Men's Tennis
April 27, 2001
KALAMAZOO, Mich. - Western Michigan University defeated the Bowling Green State University men's tennis team by a narrow 4-3 margin in a Friday morning (April 27) match which extended into the afternoon.
With the win, in the semifinal round of Mid-American Conference Championships, the second-seeded Broncos eliminated the third-seeded Falcons. WMU advances to face the tournament's top seed, Ball State, in Saturday's championship match.
The grueling match lasted nearly four hours. BGSU's season comes to an end with an overall record of 19-10.
The Falcons earned the doubles point by winning the first and third flights. WMU scored the first win in doubles, when the Broncos' number-two team of Steve Pillon and Ravishankar Pathanjali defeated sophomore Nicolas Lopez-Acevedo and junior Vitek Wild, 8-2.
The Brown and Orange responded, as the third-flight team of sophomore Micael Lopez-Acevedo and freshman Nick Moxley teamed up to defeat Fernando Garcia and Christian Brattstrom by an 8-5 count.
The doubles point then rested on the number-one match, which Falcon senior Brandon Gabel and sophomore Geoff Hiscox pulled out in a tiebreaker, 9-8 (5), over Ryan Tomlinson and Ryan Maarschalk.
Singles saw the tight play continue, as four of the six matches went the full three sets. WMU's Brattstrom earned the first win, beating Micael Lopez-Acevedo. The hosts' Pathanjali then downed Moxley in a fourth-flight match, and Maarschalk gave WMU a 3-1 overall lead with a three-set win (6-0, 3-6, 6-0) win over junior Mike Kossoff at the fifth level.
The Falcons came back, winning the next two matches. Hiscox took a tight match at the second flight, beating Pillon, 4-6, 6-3, 6-3.
Wild then came through, winning the top-flight match over Garcia. Wild, after losing the second set by a 6-0 count, came back to post the win (7-6, 0-6, 6-4) and make history in the process.
With his win, Wild became the winningest player in BGSU men's tennis history. Just a junior, he now has 143 total victories to surpass the total of Radu Bartan (142 from 1996-99). Wild is fourth all-time with 78 singles wins, and he ranks sixth with 66 doubles victories.
Friday's match then came down to the number-three singles match between Nicolas Lopez-Acevedo and Tomlinson. Lopez-Acevedo led at one point by the score of 6-3, 4-1, but Tomlinson rallied. Tomlinson came back to win the second set in a tiebreaker, then went on to get an early break of serve in the final set to take control. He went on to win the match by the scores of 3-6, 7-6, 6-3.
The Falcons' 19 dual-match victories this season are the team's most since the 1978-79 team went 20-5. Head coach Jay Harris loses just one senior, captain Brandon Gabel, from the squad.
Gabel ends his BGSU career with a total of 129 victories, ranking eighth all-time. He finishes sixth on the career doubles list (65) and is tied for ninth on the singles chart (64).
Western Michigan 4, Bowling Green 3 (April 27)
Sorensen Courts - Kalamazoo, Mich.
MAC Championships - Semifinal Round
Singles
1 - Vitek Wild (BGSU) def. Fernando Garcia 7-6, 0-6, 6-4 2 - Geoff Hiscox (BGSU) def. Steve Pillon 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 3 - Ryan Tomlinson (WMU) def. Nicolas Lopez-Acevedo 3-6, 7-6, 6-3 4 - Ravishankar Pathanjali (WMU) def. Nick Moxley 7-5, 6-3 5 - Ryan Maarschalk (WMU) def. Mike Kossoff 6-0, 3-6, 6-0 6 - Christian Brattstrom (WMU) def. Micael Lopez-Acevedo 6-1, 6-3
Doubles
1 - Hiscox/Brandon Gabel (BGSU) def. Tomlinson/Maarschalk 9-8 (5) 2 - Pathanjali/Pillon (WMU) def. N. Lopez-Acevedo/Wild 8-2 3 - M. Lopez-Acevedo/Moxley (WMU) def. Garcia/Brattstrom 8-5DNF - match did not finish
