April 14, 2012

Share of OVC title and No. 1 seed secured with 6-1 win at EIU

With a 6-1 victory Saturday over Eastern Illinois, Tennessee Tech clinched at least a share of the 2012 Ohio Valley Conference men’s tennis championship, and secured the No. 1 seed at next week’s OVC Tournament. Sunday Tech will try to win the title outright when it plays its regular season finale at SIU Edwardsville.

Click here to see complete EIU vs. TTU match results

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – With a 6-1 victory Saturday over Eastern Illinois, Tennessee Tech clinched at least a share of the 2012 Ohio Valley Conference men's tennis championship, and secured the No. 1 seed at next week's OVC Tournament.

Sunday morning, coach Kenny Doyle's team will try to win the title outright when it plays its regular season finale at SIU Edwardsville.

Because of rain in the region, the match at EIU was moved to indoor courts in Terre Haute, Ind., about 45 minutes from Charleston. The wait was worth it as the Golden Eagles improved to 9-7 overall and 7-0 within the league. EIU fell to 4-13 overall and 2-6 in OVC play.

Tech scooted to a quick start by sweeping all three doubles contests, including a convincing 8-2 win in the middle spot by Vasily Eremeev and Artem Tarasov. Syrym Abdukhalikov and Alex Chen dispatched their foe at No. 1 doubles by an 8-6 count, and Alejandro Augusto and Justin Kirstein improved to 7-0 in OVC doubles play with a tough, 8-7 win at No. 3.

The Golden Eagles got two fairly quick points with straight set wins at No. 2 singles by Chen and No. 3 by Augusto, giving Tech a 3-0 lead in the match.

The other four contests all went a little longer, with EIU players forcing Abdukhalikov at No. 1, Kirstein at No. 5 and Eremeev at No. 6 to play three sets before claiming wins. The lone EIU point went to Kevin Bauman at No. 4 in a marathon match, 7-6, 4-6, 12-10 over Trasov.