The Citadel men’s tennis team faced two close matches on Tuesday at the Earle Tennis Center, losing 7-0 to Belmont and falling 4-3 against Youngstown State.
In the first match of the day, Belmont secured the doubles point with wins at the No. 1 and No. 2 spots. The Citadel’s Reece Beckendorf and Graham Hardin managed a 7-5 win at No. 3 doubles. In singles play, Noah Van Dyke took Belmont’s Charlie Robin to a match tiebreak before losing 3-6, 7-6, 10-4. Brady Gober also pushed his opponent to a deciding tiebreak at No. 2 singles but fell short in a 6-7, 6-3, 10-8 result as Belmont swept all six singles matches.
In their second contest of the day against Youngstown State, The Citadel won the doubles point with victories at both the No. 1 and No. 3 positions. Gober and Ted Bagwell defeated Domink Vonbank and Matteo Ceradelli by a score of 6-4 at No.1 doubles, while Beckendorf teamed up with Anthony Osipov for another 6-4 win at No.3.
During singles play versus Youngstown State, Beckendorf earned a straight-set victory (6-1, 6-1) over Alex Woiten at No.5 singles and Hardin added another point with a win over Mihai Haita (7-6, 6-3) at No.6 singles. However, Youngstown State won in each of the top four singles positions to secure a narrow team victory.
Head coach Chuck Kriese commented on his team’s performance: “We played a couple of barnburners today that unfortunately did not go our way,” he said after the match. “We lost to a very good Belmont team this morning, and the matches were tight throughout the day. I’m proud of the effort our guys gave, but confidence only comes when you start winning those close matches. Our level is good and the guys are giving everything they have. Now we have to break through and win some of those tight ones.”
The Citadel will next travel west for an away match against Chattanooga on Saturday, March 7.
For more information about The Citadel men’s tennis program or updates on future games and results, visit CitadelSports.com or follow @CitadelMten on Twitter and Instagram.
