MMI Tigers Hold Off Stillman College Tigers, 6-3

Tuscaloosa, AL—The MMI men's tennis team managed to stave off defeat at Stillman College on Sunday afternoon by sweeping the three doubles matches and splitting the six singles matches to capture the 6-3 win.

Morgan Hale and Andrew Wright continued to shine and impress at No. 1 doubles with their 8-5 win over Jangeon Lee and Nick Hernandez.  Kaiser De Leon and Javier de Claire clubbed the Stillman pair of Jose Pojasi and Fernando Garcia, 8-2, at No. 2 doubles.  And Ahmed Gonna and Patrick Ryder went into overtime to defeat Yonwaba Pupuma and Eddie Symmonett, 9-7, at No. 3 doubles.

In singles, the first three matches went the distance, with Stillman College tallying two of the three points.  Stillman clipped MMI at No. 2 singles when Nick Hernandez downed Kaiser De Leon, 2-6, 7-6 (5), 10-6.  Stillman's Pupuma then pulled out another singles win, a 7-6 (5), 2-6, 10-5 thriller over Marion's Wright at No. 3 singles.  Marion's Hale stanched the mounting losses with a spectacular effort at No. 1 singles, defeating Lee in a well-played match, 3-6, 7-6 (7), 10-6.

Marion's Gonna, after winning the first set handily (6-1), fought back from a sizeable 0-4 hole in the No. 4 singles slot to reel off seven of the last eight games played to take the second set, 7-5.  Javier de Claire produced Marion's sixth point of the afternoon with a strong showing at No. 6 singles, beating Symmonett, 6-1, 6-1.  Marion's Ryder fell, 7-5, 6-4, to Jose Pojasi at No. 5 singles.

The Tigers return to Stillman College on Tuesday for the third head-to-head meeting between the two schools within a week's time.  The match is slated to begin at 10:00 a.m.

 Pictured are Morgan Hale and Andrew Wright