The Marquette men’s tennis team hosted its first two of its final four home games, where the Golden Eagles handily beat Youngstown State 6-1 before losing to Cleveland State 4-3, snapping its four-game winning streak.
Saturday’s match against Youngstown State saw the return of senior Cameron Tehrani, who last played Feb. 18 against Wisconsin. Tehrani won in the No. 6 spot in singles play 6-2, 6-3, which clinched the victory for Marquette.
The Golden Eagles started the match with the doubles point, with the No. 1 pairing of Daniel Fernandez/Vukasin Teofanovic winning 6-3 and the No. 3 pairing of Kristiyan Trukov/Andre Romanello winning 6-2.
In singles play, Nick Dykema was the only Marquette player to falter. Dykema lost to his Youngstown counterpart in the No. 3 spot 6-4, 6-3. At No. 2, Teofanovic was the only Marquette player to go to three sets, but won 6-4, 6-7, 1-0, with the third set being cut short due to Marquette already notching the victory. All of the other Golden Eagles won in two sets, as No. 1 Fernandez won 6-4, 6-3, Trukov won 6-2, 6-2 at No. 4 and No. 5 Mackenzie Stearns 6-3, 6-2.
Sunday’s match against Cleveland State was a back and forth match, as Marquette took a small lead late in the match, but the Vikings came back and stole the victory.
The Vikings won both the No. 1 and No. 2 sports in doubles play to take an early lead. Marquette’s No. 1 pair of Fernandez/Teofanovic fell 6-3 and the No. 2 pair of Dykema/Stearns lost 6-2.
Marquette and Cleveland State traded points to start singles play, as Marquette won at the No. 2 spot, as Teofanovic won 6-4, 6-3, while Dykema lost 7-6, 6-2 to give the Vikings a 2-1 lead. The Golden Eagles’ Stearns won at No. 5 6-3, 7-6, and No. 4 Trukov won 6-4, 7-6, to give Marquette a 3-2 lead. However, the Vikings won the No. 1 spot, as Fernandez fell in triple sets to make the No. 6 spot the deciding match. In the No. 6 spot, Tehrani couldn’t secure the victory as he fell 7-5, 4-6, 6-0 to give the Vikings the victory.
Marquette completes its homestand this weekend with a pair of matches against Wright State Friday and DePaul Sunday. Following those two matches, the Golden Eagles will travel to Indianapolis for the Big East Championships.