West Alabama Defeats MMI, 5-1, in Men’s Exhibition Tennis Match

Livingston, AL—The University of West Alabama Tigers defeated the Marion Military Institute Tigers, 5-1, in a rain-shortened match at the Howard R. Vaughan Tennis Complex on Tuesday afternoon.

West Alabama notched the doubles point by sweeping doubles play.  Ilia Dehodiuk and Henrik Sinkko at No. 1 doubles and Noah Johansen and Anton Lof at No. 3 doubles swept all six games in their sets to put the doubles point away.  MMI's No. 2 doubles team of Dominique Ingram and Vance Llewellyn fell 6-2 to Erik Nordblom and Ilari Vesanen.

"Playing by Division II rules proved to be an interesting experience for our players today," said MMI coach Charles Wright.  "We played six-game sets instead of eight-game pro-sets, used no-ad scoring instead of regular scoring, and played lets on the service games.  Playing by those rules hastens play quite a bit.  You have to be on your toes from the very first serve.  You play at a quickened pace and with a heightened sense of urgency."

West Alabama continued its torrid play in singles play, winning identical 6-1, 6-0 matches at No. 1 and No. 2 singles and a double-bagel match at No. 6 singles.

Dominique Ingram tallied Marion's first and only point of the match at No. 3 singles when his opponent, Erik Nordblom, retired due to injury after claiming the first set, 6-3.

MMI's Vance Llewellyn picked up four games in a 6-2, 6-2 loss to Ilari Vesanen.

The last match still in progress when the rain cancelled play was at No. 5 singles.  West Alabama's Henrik Sinkko had MMI's Nathan Johnsen on the ropes at 6-2, 3-2.

The men's tennis team will return to action on Friday, February 15 when it travels to Wallace State Community College-Hanceville for a 1:00 p.m. match.