LEXINGTON, Ky. -- After opening their spring season with a pair of non-conference matches, the Midway men's tennis team opened River States Conference play on Friday against Brescia (Ky.) at the Lexington Tennis Club.
The Eagles claimed the doubles point after winning at No. 1 and No. 2 doubles, while they would need to win just three of the six singles matches to clinch the victory. Joe Reyes' squad did that and more winning five singles matches en route to the 6-1 victory.
Midway – who improves to 2-1 overall and 1-0 in league play with the win – quickly clinched the doubles point after easily winning at No. 2 and No. 1 doubles.
Merlin Mazalto (Gien, France) and Paul Wamba (Dschang, Cameroon) blanked the Bearcat duo Parker Johnston and Juan Hernandez at No. 2, while Julian Lopez (Bogota, Colombia) and Shawn Tran (San Diego, Calif.) found themselves in a battle at No. 1.
The junior duo trailed early, but they soon picked up momentum before winning 6-3 over Danila Pyzh and Daniel Paez. Brescia won at No. 3 doubles, but Midway had already clinched the doubles point taking a 1-0 lead into singles play.
Brescia tied the match at one point all after opening singles action with a win at No. 3, but from that point on Midway dominated the match winning the final five singles matches.
Midway moved within one point of clinching the match after wins in straight sets at No. 5 and No. 4 singles. Owen McCarter (White Bluff, Tenn.) won 6-2, 6-3 over Parker Johnston at No. 5, while Marcus Antonelli (Wellington, Fla.) won 6-1, 6-1 over Juan Tavera at No. 4.
Freshman, Paul Wamba, clinched the victory following a tough win at No. 2 singles. The Cameroon native won 6-3 in the first set before gritting out a 7-6 victory in the second to seal the victory for his team.
Even with the match in hand, the final two singles matches played out, and did so in Midway's favor. Julian Lopez dropped the first set (6-3) but won the second set 6-3 before winning the 20-point tiebreaker by a final of 11-9.
The final singles match saw Fernando Salazar grit out a tough win at No. 6. The junior easily won the first set 6-0 but trailed early in the second. He trailed 5-4 but battled back and won 7-6 to make the final score 6-1 in favor of the homestanding Eagles.
The Eagles will have a quick turnaround as they're scheduled to return to action on Saturday when they host Anderson (Ind.) at 11:30 a.m. ET at Frankfort Country Club.
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