SEATTLE – Abilene Christian gutted out a dramatic 4-3 win over Seattle to open Western Athletic Conference men's tennis action on Saturday.
After ACU took the doubles points with 6-2 wins at each line (
Daniel Morozov/
Cesar Barranquero,
Benjamin McDonald/
Ethan Scribner and
Mihaly Deli and
Merse Deli), it looked like ACU might cruise to a victory. After five hours on the court, the Wildcats claimed a narrow victory.
But disaster struck on court two when
Mihaly Deli rolled his ankle and could not continue. That evened the score at 1-1. Seattle took two other singles matches and needed just one more win to take the match and ACU had nothing preventing the Redhawks from winning except three freshmen.
"We came out very strong in doubles and I thought on every court we took care of business," said ACU Head Coach Juan Nunez. "We were up on all four singles courts and then just something crazy happens that just sums up our season so far. I think the guys seeing Mihaly go down in the middle of the court like that, it just kind of took their minds off their matches a little bit."
Merse Deli got a victory at No. 4 singles and
Dennis Dutine battled to a straight-set win, leaving things in the hands of
Martin Delnido. Delnido took the first set, but couldn't capitalize on three match points in the second set and had to go to the final set. Delnido, battling through cramps in the long match, recaptured his swagger and was stormed by teammates after his 6-2 win in the final set.
"Our freshmen just gutted it out," Nunez said. "They've been thrown into this kind of situation before and had been big for us. For them to handle it the way we did, or they did was pretty awesome. Just really proud of a gutsy and not the prettiest win."
The Wildcats host UT Arlington at 2 p.m. on Friday in a rematch of the 2023 WAC Championship.
Abilene Christian 4, Seattle 3
Singles competition
1. Jun Sasagwa (SEATTLE) def.
Daniel Morozov (ACU) 3-6, 6-2, 6-3
2. Filip Stipic (SEATTLE) def.
Mihaly Deli (ACU) 4-3, retired
3. Julian Worn (SEATTLE) def.
Cesar Barranquero (ACU) 5-7, 6-2, 7-6 (7-5)
4.
Merse Deli (ACU) def. Dario Ristovski (SEATTLE) 6-3, 6-1
5.
Dennis Dutine (ACU) def. Veselin Kiselkov (SEATTLE) 7-6 (7-5), 6-2
6.
Martin Delnido (ACU) def. Michael Frank (SEATTLE) 7-6 (7-4), 5-7, 6-2
Doubles competition
1.
Daniel Morozov/
Cesar Barranquero (ACU) def. Jun Sasagwa/Filip Stipic (SEATTLE) 6-2
2.
Benjamin McDonald/
Ethan Scribner (ACU) def. Julian Worn/Michael Frank (SEATTLE) 6-2
3.
Mihaly Deli/
Merse Deli (ACU) def. Veselin Kiselkov/Yu Han Hsieh (SEATTLE) 6-2
