The Virginia Wesleyan men's tennis team (5-7, 3-2 ODAC) hosted conference rival, Shenandoah University for an ODAC showdown and came up short 5-2.
Tudor Vlad and
Frieso ter Schiphorst highlighed doubles competition with an inspiring comeback from 5-0 down against Artem Babiev and Jovan Cirkovic. The Rullan Zarraga twins won 6-4 at the top spot; and
Sebastien Muller and
Hovo Madanyan won 6-2 at #2. The Marlin doubles sweep put VWU ahead 1-0 entering singles play.
Shenandoah applied pressure early in singles with three straight set victories at #1, #4, and #6 to gain the 3-1 advantage.
On courts two and three,
Rafael Rullan Zarraga and
Francis Cabaddu found themselves a set down 6-1, but fought back to win the second 6-4 and force a third set.
Carlos Rullan Zarraga won his first set 7-5, but lost the second in a tiebreaker, which pushed him to a third set as well.
Clinching the match for Shenandoah was Shine Tokas, who defeated
Rafael Rullan Zarraga 6-1, 4-6, 7-6 (5). Soon after
Francis Cabaddu lost his third set 6-2.
Last to finish was
Carlos Rullan Zarraga, who emerged victorious over his opponent at #6 by a score of 7-5, 6-7 (5), 6-2.
The Marlins are set to host Hardin-Simmons University on Sunday, April 6 at 3 p.m.
