After losing its opener last week, the Lipscomb men’s tennis team practiced hard in preparation for the second match of the season. The Bisons’ efforts pulled through today and gave them a 7-0 win over Austin Peay University.
The Bisons (1-1) took charge of the doubles play and won the doubles point, which started Lipscomb off with a lead against Austin Peay.
Playing on the first line, Victor Chaw and Pablo Caffarena began their match with a lead against Austin Peay’s Almantas Ozelis and Anton Damberg. They refused to let the Governors duo catch up to them and kept scoring point after point until they pulled out the Bisons’ first win of 6-2 in doubles.
“Me and Pablo are playing fantastic doubles,” Chaw said. “We have an amazing energy every point. I don’t think there’s any pair in the nation that plays with more intensity than us, and that’s why we dominate so much in doubles.”
Francesco Tacconi and David Skrabut, playing on third, were leading but were unable to finish their match when Jorge Ortegon and Pedro Uribe, on second, won their 6-2 set against Timo Kiesslich and Jacob Lorino, clinching the doubles point for Lipscomb.
Chaw also said that he thinks the Bisons have to improve matches week-by-week.
“[The Bisons] aren’t really where [we] want to be…yet,” Chaw said. “If [we] keep improving the little stuff, by conference time [we] will be a very solid team but have to put in the work week-by-week.”
With the aggressiveness and competitiveness that played out in doubles, the Lipscomb Bisons carried those emotions over to singles play.
On the fourth line, Uribe was the first to add to the Bisons’ overall lead of 2-0 after he won both of his sets, 6-2 and 6-2.
Following on the third line, Ortegon also won both of his sets giving the Bisons their third point. Although he won, the Governors’ third line player did not give up and forced Ortegon to earn his win in the second set with a score of 7-5.
Then in line one, Chaw won both of his sets, 6-4 and 6-2, securing Lipscomb’s 4-0 win against Austin Peay.
“I knew the guy, so I already had a clear game plan coming in,” Chaw said. “It was under my hands. It wasn’t an amazing performance, but I played well enough to win the match comfortably.”
The Bisons took the victory for the night, but Caffarena, Tacconi and Skrabut continued to play out their matches.
Caffarena, playing line two, lost his first set 7-5. However, he did not let the loss shake him from his game as he went on to win the second set, putting the two players at a tie. With strategy and perseverance, Caffarena won the tie-breaker set 10-5, placing Lipscomb’s scorecard at 5-0.
Tacconi, line five, won both of his sets 6-0 and 7-5, while Skrabut, line six, finished with 6-4 and 6-2, setting his very first win as a Bison.
Lipscomb ended the night with a complete victory of 7-0 against Austin Peay.
Comparing this match from last week’s match, Bisons head coach Geoff Hernandez said he thinks this night was a big win for his guys in terms of momentum.
“I think this match is important,” Hernandez said. “It’s important for us to make sure that we go every line and really compete to try to win every line. With the 7-0 win, I think it just showed that the guys want to pull their weight and do their part. So I won’t downplay this win because we need to kind of use it in order to jump forward.
“I’m expecting good energy [for tomorrow’s match], and I think there’s a lot of people that are going to come out, and we want that. I think the guys will get fired up.”
Lipscomb will play its first home match Jan. 26 at 5 p.m. against the UAB Blazers.
“UAB is always a really good team — well-coached,” Hernandez said. “But they’re young, so I hope our experience and professionalism can take us over the edge.”
Photo courtesy of Lipscomb Athletics