EVANSVILLE, Ind.– University of Southern Indiana Men’s Tennis stumbled in its season finale 5-2 against Tennessee State University Saturday afternoon at the USI Tennis Courts. The Screaming Eagles will head into the program’s first Horizon League tournament with a record of 5-9 (2-2 Horizon).
Southern Indiana celebrated the team’s seniors, Quinten Gillespie and Trent Ross, after the match. Gillespie is a four-year Eagle who participated in 86 contests with the team. His best record came during his freshman season when he had an impressive 12-4 singles and 16-9 doubles record. Ross spent all four years with Southern Indiana, finding the court twice during his senior season against Butler and Vanderbilt.
Doubles
The Eagles struggled in the doubles matchups, dropping the point to the Tigers after the first two matches. Sophomore Eytan Michaeli and Gillespie fell first in the number two doubles match, 6-3. The point was clinched after junior Axel Sabourin and freshman Jy Hibbert narrowly lost to Tennessee State’s number one doubles team 6-4.
Junior Mathys Bove and freshman Adam Koon won their match by default after taking a 5-4 lead.
Singles
Tennessee State won four of the six singles matches. Sabourin and Koon fell 6-2, 6-2, in the number two and six singles. Michaeli did not go down effortlessly. After fighting in set one, he ultimately fell 7-5. The sophomore battled in a 6-3 set two loss, dropping the number three slot.
Hibbert was victorious in the number four singles match, winning the first set 6-1. He was awarded the win by default in the second set. The day closed with Gillespie taking down the Tigers’ number five singles in a thrilling 6-3, 6-7 (2-7), 1-0(10-9) win.
