No. 22 IWU Tops TU Men's Tennis
MARION, Ind. – The Taylor men's tennis team opened league play on Tuesday with a trip to 22nd-ranked Indiana Wesleyan. TU battled but came up on the wrong side of the 7-0 decision.
Taylor (0-1, 0-1) looked a lot different than the last time they faced IWU (1-0, 1-0), which was four and a half months ago during the spring season. This outing featured two TU rookies playing in the No. 1 and No. 2 singles positions with both incoming players playing a big role in doubles action as well.
This year in a new scoring format, the NAIA has adopted the NCAA rules where one team point is awarded to the team who can secure two-of-three doubles contests whereas the three doubles matches formerly had counted as three separate points toward the team's score. In Tuesday's match, IWU landed all three wins, earning one team point.
The 7-0 tally was then acquired as the Wildcats swept the Trojans in singles play. Although they didn't come up with a win, the TU men produced very competitive scores, including a three-set battle in the No. 4 position. In that matchup, Salvador Lo Cascio fell behind early but evened the contest when he bested Mariano Jalif 6-3 in set two. However, Jalif prevailed 10-5 in the third and final set. In his first collegiate singles match, David Sandi stepped into the No. 1 singles role, falling 6-2, 6-4 to an experienced competitor in Eli Steiner.
"Indiana Wesleyan is probably even better this year than they were last year when they won the league with an undefeated record," commented Coach Don Taylor. "So it was a very tough match for us. I was proud of the way we played. We had some close ones, but we have a ways to go. We competed hard, and I don't think we were really out of any matches. The good news is this is the beginning of the season, so hopefully by the end we will be improved."
The Trojans will host their first home contest of the 2019 season on Thursday against Lawrence Tech. The match is slated for a 2:00 p.m. start.
Indiana Wesleyan def. Taylor; 7-0
Doubles
No. 1 – I.Steiner/Esporito (IWU) def. Danelli/Jacquottet (TU); 6-2
No. 2 – E. Steiner/Worland (IWU) def. Lo Cascio/Sandi (TU); 6-3
No. 3 – Freire/Jalif (IWU) def. Bremner/Cheng (TU); 6-4
Singles
No. 1 – Eli Steiner (IWU) def. David Sandi (TU); 6-2, 6-4
No. 2 – Grant Esposito (IWU) def. Chase Bremner (TU); 6-2, 6-1
No. 3 – Isaac Steiner (IWU) def. Christen Jacquottet (TU); 6-4, 6-2
No. 4 – Mariano Jalif (IWU) def. Salvador Lo Cascio (TU); 6-3, 3-6, 10-5
No. 5 – Alex Serwatka (IWU) def. Andre Danelli (TU); 6-2, 6-0
No. 6 – Riley Worland (IWU) def. Victor Cheng (TU); 6-1, 6-0