Men’s tennis takes back doubles championship in season opener

The Shockers Men’s Tennis team is off to a hot start, taking the doubles championship at the Midland Fall Invitational in Texas.

 At the end of a 3-day tournament, that Shockers have seen success in both singles and double competition. Miroslav Herzan and Haru Inoue were able to defeat New Mexico’s Hayden Sabatka and Bart Van Leijsen in the championship match, 6-3, to bring the doubles trophy back to Wichita and cap off a perfect 5-0 weekend for the duo.

The win was the optimal capstone to a weekend that started off somewhat slow for the team – while all three doubles teams advanced to the quarterfinals, only one advanced in singles competition from Friday to Saturday – but showed results brought in by some of the younger stars of the team.

The Shockers struggled being the outsiders in tournament, competing with several players from colleges of the surrounding area, including those from the University of Texas, TCU, Texas Tech and Tulsa.

Newcomer to the team, freshman Eddie Stoica, also saw success in Midland. After escaping the initial round of sixteen, Stoica advanced to compete in the semifinals before falling to Texas A&M’s James Martell in a short three sets.

The Shockers will look to ride the wave of success created by some of the young up-and-comers on the team, while looking to improve before they suit up for the Intercollegiate Tennis Association All-American Championships in Tulsa, Oklahoma starting October 3.