SAINT. LEO, Fla. -- Washburn men's tennis fell to No. 1 ranked Saint Leo 6-1 in its first match in Florida. The Ichabods will be right back in action tomorrow against No. 12 Rollins College beginning at 2 p.m. central time.
Doubles play was competitive across the board but ended with Saint Leo taking leads late in matches. The No. 34 ranked pairing of Tim Hammes and Santiago Rendon fell at No. 2 6-4. Daniel Bird and Yoshinobu Nakatsuji had the same result at No. 3 as both partnerships suffered their first losses together. At No. 1 Miquel Perez and Sebastian Pjontek won 6-4 against the No. 15 ranked doubles team in the nation but the Lions had already clinched the doubles point.
Saint Leo started strong in singles play as well as Daniel Harkin fell 6-2, 6-1 at No. 6 for Washburn. Bird also lost in two sets at No. 4, dropping 6-3 and 6-2 decisions. No. 70 Pjontek fell to his No. 21 ranked singles opponent, Martin Soukal, losing 6-3, 6-4, clinching the match for the Lions.
Perez led off his No. 5 contest with a 6-4 win but fell 6-2 in the second set. In the super tiebreaker Perez came up just short, losing 10-8. Hammes suffered the same fate at No. 1 against Ivan Marrero, the No. 5 ranked singles player in the nation. He won 6-4 to begin but dropped the next two sets 6-2 and 10-3. Rendon earned the Ichabods only point at No. 3, coming back after losing 6-4 in the first set to win 6-1 in the second set and 10-9 in the super tiebreaker.
Doubles play:
-
Pjontek, Sebastian/Perez, Miquel def. Thiel, Vincent/Mensour, Ghali (SLU) 6-4
-
Castillo, Taeo/Marrero Curbelo, Ivan (SLU) def. Hammes, Tim/Rendon, Santiago (WU) 6-4
-
Bacella, Nicolas/Iriarte, Luis (SLU) def. Nakatsuji, Yoshinobu/Bird, Daniel 6-4
Order of finish: 2, 3, 1
Singles play:
-
Marrero Curbello, Ivan (SLU) def. Hammes, Tim (WU) 4-6, 6-2, 10-3
-
Soukal, Martin (SLU) def. Pjontek, Sebastian (WU) 6-3, 6-4
-
Rendon, Santiago (WU) def. Bacella, Nicolas (SLU) 4-6, 6-1, 10-9
-
Iriarte, Luis (SLU) def. Bird, Daniel (WU) 6-3, 6-2
-
Mensour, Ghali (SLU) def. Perez, Miquel 2-6, 6-2, 10-8
-
Bertoli, Henrique (SLU) def. Harkin, Daniel (WU) 6-2, 6-1
Order of finish: 6, 4, 2, 1, 5, 3
