Senior day went well for the Tiffin University Men's Tennis team as they took down one of the most dominant tennis programs in the GLIAC when they played Northwood University on Thursday. The match came down to the final singles set in which the Dragons pulled out a 5-4 overall team win.
1st doubles was the lone doubles victory for the Dragons as Ludena/Cutting paired together to take down Sebastian Eguez/Austin Woody of Northwood 9-8. Similar to how the two played against Wayne State earlier in the year, the Dragons were on serve the entire match. A late break of serve put the Dragons up, but Cutting was broken to send the teams into a tiebreaker. The Dragons had a few match points before they finally put the match away.
2nd doubles was a missed opportunity for the Dragons as the captains Fernandes/Mangone were up 4-1 on Northwood's Daniel Haas/David Reinauer before the Timberwolves stormed back winning 7 of the final 8 games to take the doubles set 8-5.
3rd doubles was another close endeavor as the Dragons Lezama/Kopronica couldn't find their rhythm and fell 5-8.
Singles was a much different game for the Dragons as they entered play being down 1-2, a common occurrence for the team on the season.
1st singles was a key victory for the Dragons in a match that showed Ludena outlasting Northwood's Eguez 6-3, 3-0 (retired). Eguez played a tough set, but was no match for Ludena as the Dragons were able to dictate the match from the early going. Ludena understood the strategy Coach Conley had implemented for him and executed it to perfection.
2nd singles was a straight set loss for TU as Lezama fell 2-6, 4-6 to Northwood's Austin Woody. Woody has been in the conference for a few years and has developed into a consistent asset for the Timberwolves on the season.
3rd singles was the captain Agustin Mangone stepping up and taking care of business when the team needed him most. Mangone went into a first set tiebreaker and never looked back as he quickly went up 6-2 and eventually took the tiebreaker heading into the second set. The second set was more of the same as Mangone was consistent and thorough in his shot selection to earn him the victory.
4th singles was a match of highs and lows for the Dragons that ended on a high note. TU's Cutting quickly jutted out to a 4-1 lead before relinquishing 3 straight games to tie it up at 4-4. In an eventual tiebreaker Cutting was able to edge out Northwood's Haas and move into a second set. The second set was Cutting turning on the afterburners as he blasted past the Timberwolves' 4th singles player en route to a 7-6, 6-0 victory.
5th singles was another roller coaster ride that didn't end well for the Dragons. With the team being up 4-3 and two matches remaining Kopronica was in line for the final victory the Dragons needed. After winning the first set 6-3 Kopronica had 5 match points at 5-3 to finish the match, but couldn't do so. Northwood's Bialkowski came roaring back to take the second set 7-5. Kopronica eventually retired in the third set after being down 0-1 to give Bialkowski the victory 3-6, 7-5, 1-0.
6th singles was like that of a movie script and couldn't have been written any better. TU's captain, and lone senior, Victor Fernandes was up a set, but down in his second set when 5th singles player Kopronica retired. Fernandes was the lone opportunity for the Dragons to win the overall match as he was down a break in the second set. Fernandes fought hard, but eventually lost a 5-7 decision in the second set. The third set was that of a heavy weight fight with both players trading blow for blow, holding serve at even the most unlikely times. It wasn't until Fernandes was down late in the match that he got the break he needed. Fernandes broke and held to give the Dragons a dramatic victory and was promptly mobbed on the court by his teammates to congratulate their lone senior on his victory and to celebrate as a team.
