CEDARVILLE, Ohio — The Bethel Men's Tennis Team earned a 6–1 victory over Cedarville University on Saturday.
Bethel swept all three doubles matches to take an early 3–0 lead. At No. 1 doubles, Dimitri Berdankov and
Lukas Slivar defeated Roman Issayev and Logan DeHaven, 6–3. The No. 2 teams of
Aidyn Batyrbekov and
Santiago Flores followed with a 7–5 win over Penn Morrison and Alexander Rongos. At No. 3 doubles,
Victor Otin and
Atanas Ivanov completed the sweep with a 6–2 victory against Roberto Esquivel and Pedro Nogueira De Carvalho.
In singles, Bethel won five of six matches. At No. 1 single, Berdankov earned a three-set win over Issayev, 6–3, 1–6, (10–5). Batyrbekov followed at No. 2 singles with a three-set victory over DeHaven, 6–3, 5–7, (10–6). Cedarville earned its lone point at No. 3 singles, where Esquivel defeated Ivanov, 7–6(5), 0–6, (11–9).
Bethel responded with straight-set wins in the remaining singles matches. At No. 4, Slivar defeated Rongos, 6–2, 6–4. Talama earned a 6–3, 6–1 win at No. 5 singles over Nogueira De Carvalho, and Flores closed the match with a 6–1, 6–1 victory over Morrison at No. 6 singles.
Head Coach Jamal Henry shared, "God has blessed me with a group of guys that really push one another each day, and it showed from beginning to end of this match," Henry said. "We were pushed, but preparation builds success, and we were prepared to take their best shots and do what we needed to do to come away with the win."
The Bethel Pilots will next compete on February 21 against the Lawrence Tech Blue Devils. First serve is set for 3 PM in Southfield, Mich.
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