Men's Tennis Drops Pair in Shawnee
SHAWNEE, Okla. -- The John Brown men's tennis team struggled to get going and dropped a pair of matches to Oklahoma Baptist and Southwestern (Kan.) on Thursday (March 10) at the OBU Tennis Complex.
The Golden Eagles (1-3) fell in straight sets to the host Bison to kick off the morning. The freshman duo of Fernando Hurley and Nathan Kuykendall pushed OBU's Thomas Ackerknecht and Michael Vetter to an 8-3 score at the No. 2 doubles position. The Bison used a trio of 6-0, 6-0 scores during singles action to secure the victory.
In the afternoon, JBU responded by picking up a pair of points, but fell 7-2 to the Moundbuilders. Hurley grabbed one of two singles victory for John Brown, defeating SC's Josh Ellis in dramatic fashion at No. 2. After winning the first set easily, 6-2, Hurley had to fend off Ellis in a second-set tiebreaker, finally taking a 10-8 decision. Freshman Matthew Minner clinched a 10-3 third-set tiebreaker victory after splitting the first sets 6-3, 3-6. The wins were both the second of the season for Hurley and Minner.
Freshman Nathan Kuykendall nearly picked up JBU's third tiebreaker victory of the afternoon, but dropped a 7-6 (10-4), 7-5 setback at No. 4 to Logan Bevis.
The Golden Eagles return to action on Wednesday (March 16) when it faces Harding (Ark.) at 2 p.m. in Searcy, Ark.
