By: Grant Langston
MTN Sports Reporter
In the fifth installment of a six match homestand, MTSU Women’s Tennis would host the
Tennessee State Tigers, their second match against an in-state rival in just as many weekends.
TSU had some complications at their team breakfast, which delayed their arrival to the Adams Tennis Complex until about 11:30 a.m. Friday morning. Nonetheless, doubles play started on schedule.
Raiders Noelle Mauro and Sana Garakani won the top court, 6-2, against Warona
Mdlulwa and Daniela Koleva.
Muskan Gupta and Eloise Swarbrick picked up their first victory as partners on court
three by defeating Franka Sindicic and Aroa Arrieta Castillo, 6-0.
Love-Star Alexis and Rutujah Chaphalkar were tied at three games apiece with Naomi
Von Bose and Jovana Nikolic when play was ruled unfinished.
Doubles order of finish: 3-1
With the Blue Raiders taking the doubles point, Love-Star Alexis kept the pressure on
the Tigers in singles, making quick work of Warona Mdlulwa on the top court, winning
6-0, 6-0 in straight sets.
Noelle Mauro got the bump up to court four in the absence of Lilly-Sophie Schmidt.
Mauro showed her resolve to bounce back after a tough loss against Chattanooga last
time out, beating Aroa Arrieta Castillo 6-2, 6-0.
Sana Garakani earned her first victory in nearly a month, taking down Naomi Von Bose,
6-1, 6-2. “It was great to win my first home match…It was important to for me to keep
my mind right and stay focused on this match,” said Garakani in a post-match interview
with MTN Sports.
Muskan Gupta extended her winning streak on court three to three matches, winning 6-
2 and then 6-1 over Jovana Nikolic.
Mt. Juliet, TN native, Karen Yibirin struggled to find her groove in her first appearance
for MTSU this season. In front of friends and family, Yibirin fell to Franka Sindicic 3-6,
2-6.
Camila Barragan would also see her first action for the Raiders. Barragan and Daniela
Koleva appeared to be fairly evenly matched, each taking a set off the other by a score of
6-3. Koleva outlasted Barragan in the 10-point tiebreak, winning 10-8.
It would not matter, as both freshmen gained invaluable experience and the Blue Raiders won the match over the TSU Tigers 5-2.
Singles order of finish: 1, 4, 2, 3, 6, 5
Later that afternoon, the men’s team would play host to their only CUSA opponent of the 2023 season: The Rice Owls.
Oskar Brostrom-Poulsen and Francisco Rocha (ranked 23) defeated Wes Barnett and Trinity
Grear 6-3, in a match highlighted by an acrobatic, cross-court circus shot that you would
have to see to believe.
Stijn Slump and Pavel Motl secured the doubles point for MTSU, besting the Owl
pairing of Santiago Navarro and Campbell Salmon 7-5.
Ondrej Horak and Shu Matsuoka were locked in a tiebreak set with Kabeer Kapasi and
Eduardo Morais after taking six games each. Horak and Matsuoka led 5-3 when the
match was ruled unfinished.
Doubles Courts order of finish: 1, 2
After facing some stiff competition in doubles, MTSU used momentum to their
advantage to blank the Owls. Francisco Rocha (ranked 122) tactfully took down Emir
Sendogan 6-0, 6-2 on court two. Meanwhile, Marcel Kamrowski beat Kabeer Kapasi 6-2,
6-4 on court five.
Oskar Brostrom-Poulsen (ranked 91) showed the pace of his speedy serve more than a few times in a victory over Wes Barnett 6-4, 7-5.
Ondrej Horak maintained his flawless singles record, vanquishing Santiago Navarro by a score of 6-1 in the first and third set.
Pavel Motl took the first set on court six against Campbell Salmon 6-2, before dropping
the next 4-6. Motl was the better of the two in the ten-point tiebreak, winning 10-5.
Stijn Slump (80/-), ranked in the ITA top-125 for the first time this season, triumphed
once again, taking down Trinity Grear 7 7 -6 2 , 7 7 -6 2 , in two lengthy sets.
MTSU men’s tennis is gunning for its fourth straight CUSA title this April and their
dominant performance this past Friday, helped prove that they are more than capable of
it.
Singles Courts order of finish: 2, 5, 3, 4, 6, 1
Following the match on Friday night, the Men’s Tennis team hopped on a plane to
Blacksburg, Virginia, one of MTSU Head Coach Jimmy Borendame’s old stomping
grounds. Borendame spent five years with Virginia Tech as an assistant coach from
2005-08, including a season in 2009 as the assistant head coach.
The #21 Blue Raiders would go on to take down the Hokies 4-0 Sunday afternoon, just
hours before the Super Bowl, to improve their record to 8-2 on the season.
Both Blue Raider Tennis teams will be back in action locally this weekend.
The MTSU Women’s team will host Murray State (4-2) at the Adams Tennis Complex, this Friday, February 17 at 12 p.m. before facing Lipscomb (3-3) up in Nashville on Sunday.
The MTSU Men’s team will play host to the Oklahoma State Cowboys (6-2) on Friday at
5 p.m. following the Women’s match. SMU (6-3) and Austin Peay (1-2) will make the trip
to “The Boro” on Sunday, to face one of the hottest teams in college tennis.