The South Dakota State men's tennis team split a pair of matches in St. Cloud, Minn., on Saturday, falling to St. Cloud State before topping St. John's (Minn.)...
The team started well against St. Cloud State. James Thorp and Parker Lawley teamed up at No. 1 doubles for an 8-5 victory, while Dominic Rossetto and Justin Pyle teamed up at No. 2 for an 8-6 win.
In singles, the Jacks went back-and-forth with the Huskies. Lawley posted an impressive 6-1, 6-1 score at No. 3 singles, while Thorp was able to to squeak out a 6-2, 5-7, 6-2 win at No. 4. SDSU fell short, however, dropping the remaining singles matches, including another three-set match at No. 2 singles.
The Huskies snuck past the Jacks, 5-4.
SDSU rebounded in the second match, despite a slow start. The Jacks fell behind despite an 8-4 win at No. 1 by Thorp and Lawley. Rossetto and Pyle played tough at No. 2, but lost in a tiebreaker.
It was a reversal of fortunes for SDSU in this match, however, as the Jacks bounced back to take four of six singles matches.
Lawley was dominant once again, posting a 6-2, 6-0 win at No. 2 singles. Thorp and Alejandro Marin followed suit with straight-set wins at No. 4 and No. 5.
"Parker Lawley played phenomenal tennis and only dropped four singles games the entire day," head coach Michael Engdahl said. "To do that as a freshman is pretty impressive. James Thorp also had a great day going undefeated."
The match came down to No. 3 singles, as Rossetto fought back after dropping the first set to even the score and take the third set super tiebreaker, 2-6, 6-1, 10-1.
The Jacks jumped by the Johnnies, 5-4.
"We started this morning at 9: 30 a.m. and were on court until 7 p.m., so it was a long day of tennis," Engdahl said. "I was impressed with how we held up physically and everyone kept their energy up for the most part. Mentally we have some things to work on and we will get better in that area as the season develops."
Both the men's and women's tennis teams are back in action next weekend in Omaha, Neb. Each team faces Nebraska-Omaha on Friday, before concluding the trip against Creighton on Saturday.
Match times are set for 6 p.m. on Friday and 7 p.m. on Saturday.
