February 18, 2012

Louisville claims 6-1 match over Golden Eagles

Alex Chen won his No. 2 singles point and teamed with Syrym Abduhkalikov to win the No. 1 doubles contest, but No. 35 Louisville claimed a 6-1 win Saturday over Tennessee Tech in men's tennis action.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The Louisville Cardinal tennis team had rolled through 31 consecutive homecourt wins in the Bass-Rudd Tennis Center before having their streak ended last week by No. 3 Ohio State.

This week, the Cardinals – ranked No. 35 – are working to start a new streak. It began Monday with a 5-2 win over Clemson, and on Saturday they added two more victims, including a 6-1 win over Belmont and a 6-1 victory over Tennessee Tech.

The Golden Eagles got a win at No. 1 doubles, and senior Alex Chen claimed his match at No. 2 singles, but otherwise Louisville claimed everything else.

Chen and Syrym Abduhkalikov won the No. 1 doubles match, taking an 8-6 decision from Robert Hall and Seb Stiefelmeyer. The Cardinals won the doubles point, however, getting an 8-1 win at No. 2 and an 8-4 victory at No. 3.

Abduhkalikov put up a heroic fight at No. 1 singles before falling in three sets to Stiefelmeyer. After dropping the first set, 6-0, Abduhkalikov battled back to win the second, 6-4. The decisive set went to the Cardinals’ Austrian freshman, 6-4.

Chen dropped his first set, 6-2, before bouncing back to win the second, 6-3, over Andrew Carter. The contest went to Chen in the third set, 1-0.

Beyond that, Louisville claimed straight set wins at the other four singles positions for the win.

Tech (1-5) will play at East Tennessee State next Sunday, Feb. 26. Louisville improved to 7-4.