Bowling Green State University Athletics
Orange Downs Black In Tight Intrasquad Battle
May 03, 2002 | Men's Tennis
May 3, 2002
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - The Bowling Green State University men's tennis team won the 2002 Mid-American Conference regular-season title in large part because of the team's depth and balance.
Those team attributes may never have been more evident than on Thursday afternoon (May 2), when the Falcons held an intrasquad match at Keefe Courts.
The Orange team, consisting of seniors Ed Kuresman and Mike Kossoff, junior Geoff Hiscox and sophomores Milos Jirout and Joel Carney, faced off against the Black team of senior Vitek Wild, juniors Peter Gardonyi and Nicolas Lopez-Acevedo, freshman Ian Bliss and head coach Jay Harris.
The teams, unable to determine a winner on the courts, had to move to the field to crown a champion. But, first things first...
In doubles play, two tandems were victorious for the Black team. Harris and Lopez-Acevedo had a 6-0 win over the Hiscox/Carney duo, while Gardonyi and Wild bested the Kossoff/Kuresman team by a 6-4 count. In the other match during the "doubles" portion, Jirout defeated Bliss.
In singles, the Orange team was victorious in three of the five matches. Kuresman downed Gardonyi, while Jirout was a winner over Lopez-Acevedo. Hiscox and Wild were tied, 5-5, when Wild retired.
The Black squad got wins from Harris, who downed Kossoff, and Bliss, who defeated Carney.
Those results produced a 4-4 tie, so the teams headed to the football field to decide a champion. In a thrilling gridiron affair, the Orange squad pulled out a win, six touchdowns to five, as Hiscox threw a TD pass to Kuresman on the game's final play.
Kossoff summed up the opinion of each of his teammates with three simple words. "What a battle," said the senior captain.
On the courts this year, the Falcons had a 19-11 record and a 5-0 MAC mark. BGSU won the MAC's regular-season title for the second time in three years. Harris was named the league's coach of the year, while Hiscox was selected the player of the year. Hiscox was one of four Falcons to earn All-MAC honors in 2001-02.
The team banquet is scheduled for Sunday (May 5) at 4:00 p.m. in the Bowen-Thompson Student Union. For more information, contact the BGSU men's tennis office at (419) 372-2401.
BGSU Intrasquad Match
Doubles Harris/Lopez-Acevedo (B) def. Carney/Hiscox (O) 6-0 Gardonyi/Wild (B) def. Kossoff/Kuresman (O) 6-4 Jirout (O) def. Bliss (B) 6-2Singles Kuresman (O) def. Gardonyi (B) 6-2 Jirout (O) def. Lopez-Acevedo (B) 6-3 Harris (B) def. Kossoff (O) 6-4 Hiscox (O) def. Wild (B) 5-5, retired Bliss (B) def. Carney (O) 6-0
Football competition Orange def. Black, 6-5
