.png&type=webp)
Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
BALL STATE
Falcons Beat Ball State, 4-3
April 17, 2002 | Men's Tennis
April 17, 2002
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - The Bowling Green State University men's tennis team prevailed by a 4-3 count over Ball State University in Wednesday's (April 17) matchup of MAC unbeatens at Keefe Courts. The win gives the Falcons a 3-0 record, and means BGSU controls its own destiny in its quest for the MAC's regular-season title. BGSU is now 16-10 overall in dual-match play this season.
Ball State drops to 10-13 overall and 3-1 in MAC action.
With the victory, the Falcons also snapped a long losing streak in the series with BSU. Wednesday's win broke a 24-match Cardinal winning streak, as BGSU's last win over the Cardinals came in the 1978-79 season. In fact, Ball State entered the match having won 111 of its last 115 MAC regular-season matches.
"Obviously, the team is extremely excited with this win," said BGSU head coach Jay Harris. "Now, if we can beat Buffalo, we can clinch at least a share of the regular-season title."
The Falcons are alone in first place in the MAC standings, and -- as mentioned -- control their own destiny in the league race. BGSU could clinch the league title outright with wins over UB and at Toledo this weekend.
The Brown and Orange captured the doubles point to take a 1-0 lead over the Cardinals. BGSU's top-two doubles teams were victorious, as the team of senior Vitek Wild and junior Nicolas Lopez-Acevedo posted an 8-5 win over BSU's Kevin Burnett and Jason Pressel.
At the middle flight, the team of junior Geoff Hiscox and sophomore Joel Carney won by an 8-2 count over Chris Varga and Klint Knable. The Hiscox/Carney duo now has a 16-4 record this season.
Ball State's third-flight tandem earned an 8-4 win over sophomore Milos Jirout and freshman Ian Bliss.
In singles play, Carney downed Matt Laramore in straight sets at the fifth flight, while Wild fell to Varga at the second level. Then, Lopez-Acevedo closed out a two-set win over Andrew Seni at the third flight, meaning the Falcons needed to win just one of the remaining three matches.
In the sixth-flight match, the only contest to require three sets, BSU's Brad Rhodes earned a win over Mike Kossoff. But, at the top flight, Hiscox won the first set against Pressel, then rallied in the second set to force a tiebreaker. Hiscox captured the tiebreaker to clinch the match victory for the Falcons.
Carney's singles win was his 23rd of the season, moving him into a tie for the team lead with Kossoff. Both Hiscox and Lopez-Acevedo recorded their 22nd singles win of the season.
Carney upped his team-leading totals to 23 doubles wins and 46 total victories this year.
In the final singles match to finish, Burnett posted a win over Jirout at the fourth flight to provide the final score.
"To beat Ball State for the first time in so long, at home, in our last regular-season meeting with them, is huge for our program," said Harris. "It just shows how much heart and class these guys have.
"It was also a huge lift for us to have such a great crowd at the match today, including coaches and student-athletes from what seemed like every other (BGSU) team. I know (men's track coach) Sterling Martin altered his team's practice schedule to have his athletes come over. In addition to the women's tennis team, I saw players and coaches from volleyball, women's track, hockey, football, gymnastics, baseball and softball, and I'm sure there were more there that I missed. It was tremendous to have that kind of support in such a big match.
"Our team appreciates that support from the other teams so much, and it was a huge part of our victory. Hopefully, this win will have kind of a carry-over effect, where the Falcon teams can feed off of one another's success.
"Thank you once again to all of the BGSU fans for their support today."
The Falcons close the regular season with a pair of MAC matches this weekend. BGSU will host Buffalo on Friday (April 19), with the contest set to start at 3:00 p.m. at Keefe Courts. The match marks the final home contest in program history.
Then, on Saturday (April 20), BGSU will end regular-season action with a 1:00 p.m. contest at arch-rival Toledo. The MAC Championships will be held next Thursday through Saturday, April 25-27, in Buffalo, N.Y.
Bowling Green 4, Ball State 3
Keefe Courts - Bowling Green, Ohio
Singles 1 - Geoff Hiscox (BGSU) def. Jason Pressel 6-3, 7-6 2 - Chris Varga (Ball State) def. Vitek Wild 6-2, 6-2 3 - Nicolas Lopez-Acevedo (BGSU) def. Andrew Seni 7-5, 6-1 4 - Kevin Burnett (Ball State) def. Milos Jirout 7-6, 6-4 5 - Joel Carney (BGSU) def. Matt Laramore 6-4, 6-0 6 - Brad Rhodes (Ball State) def. Mike Kossoff 1-6, 6-3, 6-1Doubles 1 - Lopez-Acevedo/Wild (BGSU) def. Burnett/Pressel 8-5 2 - Carney/Hiscox (BGSU) def. Varga/Klint Knable 8-2 3 - Laramore/Rhodes (Ball State) def. Jirout/Ian Bliss 8-4
