Tanner Hoops | Staff Writer

The Buena Vista University (BVU) men’s tennis team opened the 2016 portion of their schedule with strong showings against Doane and Mdiland despite being two men down Saturday, Feb. 13 at Midland University.

In the first match of the day, BVU’s top doubles team of juniors Chris Habermann and Jesse Brace earned an 8-5 win over their opponents. Doane won at #2 doubles 8-6 over junior Will Connelly and freshman Steven Will. The forfeit at #3 doubles due to lack of players gave Doane a 2-1 lead heading into singles play. Will earned BVU’s only singles point of the contest; an 8-6 win at the #3 slot as Doane went on to win the match 7-2.

“Steven played a great match,” BVU first year head tennis coach Brent Groen said. “He won with some great serves and a variety of shots. As a freshman, he will only continue to improve each day out.”

In the second match of the day, BVU matched up with the hosts from Midland and fell by a score of 6-3. Once again, the doubles tandem of Habermann and Brace gave the Beavers a win at #1 doubles with a masterful 8-4 victory. Habermann was dominant in his win at #1 singles as well, defeating Midland’s Dylan Hatanelas 6-0, 6-3, while Brace won a 3-set thriller at #2 singles 4-6, 6-1, 10-5 over Nico Arguello.

“Jesse and I came out firing in both of our doubles matches against Midland and Doane,” Habermann said. “This is continuing off of the success we had in the fall as a doubles team and I think we can do great things this season.”

Despite the outcome of the matches, Groen was pleased with the overall results.

“Despite playing two men down and being three matches down before we even started, I couldn’t be more proud of the way the guys performed today,” Groen said.

The Beavers move to 0-4 on the season and return to action Saturday, Feb. 27, at Cornell to take on the hosts at 9 a.m followed by a 1 o’clock match with Grinnell.

Photo by Kyle Wiebers