KALAMAZOO – The semifinals of the Mid-American Conference men’s tennis tournament didn’t start off very well for No. 1 seed Western Michigan University.
It ended even worse.
The Broncos had their streak of five straight MAC tournament titles end on Friday when No. 3 Ball State stunned WMU, 4-3, at the Sorensen Courts. Ball State will play the winner of No. 2 Toledo and No. 4 Buffalo on Saturday in the championship match. The tourney winner receives the MAC’s automatic bid into the NCAA tournament.
Western had defeated Ball State, 7-0, earlier in the season, but several of the matches were close.
The Cardinals put themselves in control of the semifinal right off the bat when they won the doubles point by taking two of the three doubles matches. When Western held a 3-2 lead after four of the singles matches had ended, Ball State’s Andres Monroy topped Casey Cullen, 2-6, 7-5, 6-4 at fifth singles to tie the match.
BSU’s Cliff Morrison then beat Simon Blomberg, 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 at No. 3 singles to clinch the Cardinals’ victory.
Western’s only two players to win both of their matches were the top two singles players, seniors Michael Calderone and Kazuya Komada. The two teamed to win their No. 1 doubles match before Calderone topped Dalton Albertin, 7-6, 7-6, at No. 1 singles and Komada beat Zane Smith, 6-1,6-0, at No. 2.
It ended even worse.
The Broncos had their streak of five straight MAC tournament titles end on Friday when No. 3 Ball State stunned WMU, 4-3, at the Sorensen Courts. Ball State will play the winner of No. 2 Toledo and No. 4 Buffalo on Saturday in the championship match. The tourney winner receives the MAC’s automatic bid into the NCAA tournament.
Western had defeated Ball State, 7-0, earlier in the season, but several of the matches were close.
The Cardinals put themselves in control of the semifinal right off the bat when they won the doubles point by taking two of the three doubles matches. When Western held a 3-2 lead after four of the singles matches had ended, Ball State’s Andres Monroy topped Casey Cullen, 2-6, 7-5, 6-4 at fifth singles to tie the match.
BSU’s Cliff Morrison then beat Simon Blomberg, 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 at No. 3 singles to clinch the Cardinals’ victory.
Western’s only two players to win both of their matches were the top two singles players, seniors Michael Calderone and Kazuya Komada. The two teamed to win their No. 1 doubles match before Calderone topped Dalton Albertin, 7-6, 7-6, at No. 1 singles and Komada beat Zane Smith, 6-1,6-0, at No. 2.
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