HOUGHTON, Mich. – Michigan Tech fought to the final singles tiebreaker, but fell 4-3 to Lake Superior State Sunday afternoon at Gates Tennis. The match came down to No. 6 singles between Ricardo Nunez and Raul Volasco Garcia. 

Volasco Garcia won the final point to secure a 6-4, 4-6, 7-6(5) win for the Lakers. Michigan Tech fell to 0-9 while Lake Superior State improved to 6-3 in the opening match of Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play.

"This was a tough loss," said head coach Kristin D'Agostini-Yep. "We were right there until the very end and it could have gone either way. I was happy with our effort."

The Lakers started by taking the team doubles point. Then, Nikolai Prosjanykov outlasted Maxence Hamon at No. 3 singles to even the match 1-1.

At No. 1 singles, Vitor Jordao dropped a tight first set but earned a break to go ahead 2-0 in the second. Leading 5-0, Aaron Osmond won four straight games to get back on serve, then evened the set with an ace. Jordao stopped the run on his serve for a 6-5 lead but Osmond sent it to a tiebreak with two unreturned serves. A lob on the baseline gave Osmond a 4-2 lead in the tiebreak, later setting up three match points, the first of which he converted.

Adam Fenjiro grabbed his first set with relative ease at No. 4 but faced pressure early in the second as Jordi Fraile Raton evened up the match. Fraile Raton went up a break and consolidated on his serve for 3-1 edge in the third, finishing the set 6-2.

After splitting sets at No. 2 singles, Leon Sell served for the match at 5-4 in the third. Sell fought off the net cord for a 30-love lead, then serve-volleyed his way to the win.

Eli Pinnoo trailed 5-2 in the first set but rebounded to take the second and third 6-3, 6-2. With the match tied at 3-3, Nunez won two straight games to take a 3-2 lead in the first. After holding on 6-4, Raul Velasco Garcia reversed the score in the second, then won the third set tiebreaker 7-5.

Michigan Tech plays next at Davenport on Friday, March 24 at 12:30 p.m.

SCORES

Doubles

1. LSSU (Aaron Osmond/Maxence Hamon) def. MTU (Eli Pinnoo/Leon Sell) 6-4
2. LSSU (Jordi Fraile Raton/Raul Velasco Garcia) def. MTU (Vitor Jordao/Nikolai Prosjanykov) 6-4
3. LSSU (Lluc Limongi Ollers/Xavier Vicent Navarro). def. MTU (Ambarish Rao/Ricardo Nunez) 6-2

Order of finish: 3,1,2

Singles

1. LSSU (Aaron Osmond) def. MTU (Vitor Jordao) 6-3, 7-6(3)
2. MTU (Leon Sell) def. LSSU (Lluc Limongi Ollers) 3-6, 6-4, 6-4
3. MTU (Nikolai Projanykov) def. LSSU (Maxence Hamon) 6-3, 6-4
4. LSSU (Jordi Fraile/Raton) def. MTU (Adam Fenjiro) 6-2, 5-7, 6-2
5. MTU (Eli Pinnoo) def. LSSU (Xavier Vicent Navarro) 3-6, 6-3, 6-2
6. LSSU (Raul Velasco Garcia) def. MTU (Ricardo Nunez) 6-4, 4-6, 7-6(5)

Order of finish: 3,1,4,2,5,6