Yale Suffers First Defeat of Season to No. 43 MTSU, 6-1

Brown Posts Lone Singles Win for Bulldogs

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The four-match winning streak of the Yale men's tennis team came to an end Sunday at the Nashboro Village Athletic Club when the squad was unable to overcome a strong effort by No. 43 Middle Tennessee State.  Playing less than 24 hours after a marathon victory over Alabama-Birmingham, the Elis were unable to recover from dropping the doubles point and eventually succumbed to a 6-1 defeat.

Despite its experienced doubles lineup, Yale (4-1) was unable to gain the upper hand in the early going, as Middle Tennessee State (6-2) fielded two strong pairings who managed to secure the doubles point at the Bulldogs' expense.  At No. 1 doubles, the No. 19 ranked senior duo of captain Daniel Hoffman and Marc Powers was upset by Yannick Born and Marlon Brand, 8-6.  No. 2 doubles saw Victor Cornea and Ben Davis defeat junior Patrick Chase and senior John Huang, 8-4.

Though the Elis had also lost the doubles point in Saturday's match against Alabama-Birmingham only to come back to win the match, they were unable to replicate this feat against Middle Tennessee State.  In a reversal of Saturday's fortunes, Yale's top three singles players, Hoffman, Huang and Powers, were defeated.  Huang did manage to get off to a strong start in his match against No. 101 Davis, but narrowly lost a close second-set tiebreaker and eventually the match, 2-6, 7-6(6), 6-1.  Freshman Jason Brown was the lone Bulldog winner on the day, as he grinded out a well-deserved 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 victory over Born to improve his spring season record to 4-1 and his overall rookie year win-loss mark to an impressive 21-2.

Despite the loss, a long season is on the horizon for the Bulldogs, with many more matches and challenges to come.  The Elis will need to recover quickly from this weekend's physically demanding doubleheader, as they travel to Ithaca, N.Y. on Friday to take part in the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference (ECAC) Division I Indoor Team Championship hosted by Cornell.  This event marks one of the most important weekends on the spring calendar, as it is the only chance for the Bulldogs to face its Ancient Eight rivals before the Ivy League stretch in April. 

Report by Robert Batista '15, Yale Sports Publicity