Murray State University Athletics
Racers push past Austin Peay 5-2
4/12/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
The Murray State men's tennis team got a huge win at Austin Peay this afternoon, beating the Governors 5-2 to clinch a spot in the Ohio Valley Conference Championship Tournament.
The Racers (4-14, 3-4 OVC) will likely get the No. 6 seed in the eight-team tournament, to be played April 16-18 at the Centennial Sportsplex in Nashville, Tenn.
For the fifth straight match, Murray State won the doubles point. Zakaria Bahri and Masimba Muskwe won their fifth straight match, beating APSU's Rodrigo Borges and Joao Pinho 8-4 in the eight-game pro set at No. 1 doubles, while Adam Maskill and Chris Morgan also won their fifth straight doubles match, ousting APSU's Andrew Naidu and Wesleigh Pancho 8-6. Clayton Clark and Jeff Lester also won at No. 2 doubles over Marcos Queiroz and Cody Wall 8-6.
In singles play, Bahri trailed Queiroz 6-2, 3-0 in the second set before mounting an incredible comeback to win 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 at No. 1 singles. Muskwe won at No. 2 singles over Borgez 4-6, 6-2, 6-1, while Maskill won at No. 3 singles over Pinho 7-6, 6-1, and Lester won at No. 6 singles over Naidu 6-2, 4-6, 11-9 in the tie-breaking game. Clark fell at No. 4 singles to Jonathan Brown 6-0, 6-2, while Morgan lost at No. 5 singles to Pancho 6-2, 6-0.
"This was a really big win for us," said MSU head coach Mel Purcell. "If we had lost, we would have only had two wins in the conference and might not have made the tournament."
According to the schools' Web sites, Tennessee Tech leads the standings at 5-0, while Jacksonville State is 6-1 and Morehead State is 7-2. Samford is fourth at 6-3, while Eastern Illinois is 4-3. Murray State is 3-4, while Eastern Kentucky is 2-6 and Tennessee-Martin is 2-7. Austin Peay is 1-5 and Tennessee State is 0-5. APSU and TSU will meet tomorrow (Tuesday). The top eight teams participate in the OVC Championship Tournament.
