Men’s Tennis Wins First Home Match 7-2 Over Whitworth

SHERMAN, Tex. - The West #17 Austin College Kangaroos defended their home turf against the invading West #19 Pirates from Whitworth University to the tune of a 7-2 victory on Saturday.

  Austin College swept the doubles over Whitworth, but not without discomfort.  Lines 1 and 2 went quickly for AC as Kenneth Hardy & Josh Granberry won 8-2 while Siddharth Kortikere & Andres Padilla shut out their 2nd Doubles opponents 8-0.

  But Calum Robe and Erik Meendsen struggled in the onset of their match.  Fighting from behind the entire match, the Line 3 tandem could not hold to take their first lead of the match at 7-7.  The Kangaroo tandem fought off three match points to break serve and force a set tiebreaker.  The tiebreaker would go the way of Austin College 9-8 (7-5), and the Kangaroos would take a commanding 3-0 lead into singles play.

  Claiming the first point of singles play for Austin College was Josh Granberry.  The Junior exploded through his opponent in a 6-0, 6-3 win at Line 2.  Whitworth would take the next two matches at Lines 3 and 4 to put some pressure on the 'Roos, but defending SCAC Men's Singles Player of the Week, Andres Padilla would quell the comeback just as quickly as it began with a 6-3, 6-0 clinch at Line 5 singles.

  With the match already decided in Austin College's favor, Kenneth Hardy took a competitive 3-set match and claimed it for the 'Roos 7-6 (10-8), 4-6, 6-2, and Safe Rahman added the seventh point 6-4, 6-4 to close out competition.

  Next up for Austin College is a long-awaited matchup from last year's SCAC Tournament Semi-Finals with 36th-ranked Southwestern, followed by East Texas Baptist University.  Matches begin on Saturday, February 24th at 10:00AM and 3:00PM at the Elizabeth Russell Tennis Center.