PELLA, Iowa — Nebraska Wesleyan's men's tennis team dropped a 4-3 decision to Central College on Thursday afternoon, falling just short in a tightly contested American Rivers Conference road match at the Dutch's home courts.
The Prairie Wolves surrendered the doubles point early and spent the rest of the afternoon fighting back, ultimately coming up one win shy of pulling off the road upset. Nebraska Wesleyan falls to 1-1 in conference play with six A-R-C matchups remaining.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Central wasted no time setting the tone. The Dutch got on the board first at No. 1 doubles, where Bodi Kortz and Alex Slaymaker edged Ashton Rames and Sam Rademacher 6-4. Nebraska Wesleyan answered immediately at No. 3, with Zac Briggs and Ian Armbrust taking care of Francisco Molina and Hayden Sinclair by the same 6-4 score. But Central clinched the doubles point in the second slot, where Ernest Alvarez Chedzoy and Gavin Jablonski turned away Riley Voss and Gavin Nichols 7-5 to give the Dutch a 1-0 lead heading into singles.
Nebraska Wesleyan chipped away from there, with Briggs delivering arguably the day's most impressive individual performance at No. 3. After dropping the opening set to Alvarez Chedzoy, he regrouped and took the final two sets 6-2 and 6-3 to complete the three-set comeback. Rames added a 6-3, 7-5 win over Jablonski at No. 4, and Rademacher closed out the singles order at No. 6 with a clean 6-4, 7-5 win over Quin Hull to push the team score to 3-3.
But Central had already done enough damage in the middle of the lineup to secure the dual. Kortz was dominant at No. 1, dismissing Voss 6-1, 6-1, while Slaymaker rallied past Nichols in three sets at No. 2, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4. Molina then clinched the Dutch victory at No. 5 with a 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 comeback win over Glenn McChristian.
UP NEXT
Nebraska Wesleyan returns to action Friday, traveling to Dubuque, Iowa, for a 4 p.m. first serve against Loras College.
