Shockers lose 2-4 to No. 21 Cornell
Junior Miroslav Herzan chases the ball to keep it from going out of bounds. Wichita State lost the match to Cornell.
Wichita State men’s tennis ended their three-game winning streak with a 4-2 loss to No. 21 Cornell Saturday afternoon.
The doubles portion of play came down to the final match after WSU and Cornell split the first two matches.
The Shocker duo of Jocelyn Devilliers and Eddie Stoica fell to Bernardo C. Rosa and Chris Vrabel of Cornell 6-4 to give Cornell a one-match lead in doubles.
On court one, Miroslav Herzan and Haru Inoue used well-placed hits to widen the score to 4-1 against David Volfson and Colin Sinclair of Cornell. Herzan and Inoue defeated Volfson and Sinclair 6-3 and tied the score.
In the deciding doubles match, Marius Frosa and Murkel Dellien beat Al Hill and Pietro Rimondini 6-4, winning the doubles point for WSU.
“It’s a good feeling,” Frosa said. “I think the whole team had the energy and it was easy for me and my partner. My partner played incredibly and I think we can win many matches in the future.”
Head coach Danny Bryan said the team has been working on closing out doubles play well and the last few matches have provided them with the opportunity to refocus before this weekend.
“Throughout the season we’ve struggled and this past weekend at the Pacific Invite (in California) we won two doubles points to finish the matches off,” Bryan said. “We were able to carry it over to today which is good to see.”
Stoica dropped his two sets to Cornell’s Vrabel, 1-6, 3-6, to tie the score at 1-1 overall.
Finishing second, No. 71 Inoue lost both sets 2-6, 2-6 to Volfson of Cornell. This matchup provided several ten-hit-plus volleys throughout the first set.
Frosa was the only Shocker to claim victory in singles play with his 6-3, 6-3 wins over Rimondini. This point tied WSU and Cornell at two overall points apiece.
Of the three remaining matches, Cornell took two ending the meeting with WSU.
Dellien faced Rosa but dropped both sets 5-7, 3-6. Herzan lost the first set to Lev Kazakov 4-6, but won the second set 6-3. In the third set, Herzan failed to win a game and lost 0-6. The match between Devilliers and Sinclair ended unfinished.
“Credit Cornell,” Bryan said. “They’re a good team and on the big points they just played better than us and they showed why they’ve had such good results so far this year.”
The Shockers (7-6) begin a four-game road trip on Friday against UMKC (6-4).
