Men’s Tennis Rallies to Defeat Cumberland 4-3 in MSC Semifinals

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. - The Lindsey Wilson men's tennis team came back from a 3-1 deficit to defeat Cumberland (Tenn.) 4-3 in the Mid-South Conference Men's Tennis Semifinals Saturday at the Warren County Tennis and Sports Facility.

With the victory, the Blue Raiders will face top-seeded Cumberlands (Ky.) in the championship match on Sunday at 3 p.m. CT.

Cumberland took the doubles point with wins at No. 2 and No. 1 doubles. The Phoenix then jumped out to a 2-0 lead after a default in No. 3 singles.

Santiago Diaz got Lindsey Wilson on the board with a 7-5, 6-3 victory over German Suarez at No. 5 singles. Cumberland took a 3-1 lead after Ilyas Kouchairi fell to Julian Parada at No. 4 singles.

Firas Ben Chouikha started the Blue Raider comeback at No. 2 singles. After dropping the first set to Adrijan Hrzic, Chouikha won the next two sets 6-3, 6-1.

Lucas Marques tied the match with a victory at No. 6 singles. He dropped the first set 4-6 to Dan Slapnik Trost and won set 6-3. Marques trailed 5-1 to in the third set before fighting his way back to win the set and even the match at three.

In the decisive match, Jan Silhavy (No. 15 in the ITA rankings) defeated Pavel Kelo (No. 35 in the ITA rankings) at No. 1 singles. Silhavy took the first set 6-2, lost the second set 4-6 and won the match with a 6-1 victory in the third set.