Lipscomb men’s tennis suffered a 5-2 loss in their second conference match at the Huston-Marsh-Griffith tennis center against Kennesaw State on Thursday.

Due to one of their players’ being ill, the Bisons’ lineup had to be changed, which caused them to make a rough adjustment.

“We had a sickness with Jorge Ortegon (player No. 3), so we had to take him out of the lineup, which obviously doesn’t help,” Lipscomb coach Geoff Hernandez said. “But you want your team to be ready to take the chances when they have them.”

The Bisons (1-1 ASUN) started the afternoon losing the doubles point against the Owls.

In line one for Lipscomb, Victor Chaw and Pablo Caffarena got the job done and defeated Kennesaw’s Drew Lahey and Bryan Triana 6-3.

However, the Bisons were unable to win the doubles point in lines two and three, which allowed the Owls to begin the match with a 1-0 lead.

“Our one and two, Victor and Pablo, played great in doubles and in singles,” Hernandez said. “The rest of the team did not step up.”

In line two, Lipscomb’s Jake Penny and Francesco Tacconi lost 6-3 to Lucas de Torres Curth and Kevin Patel while Pedro Uribe and David Skrabut lost 6-0 to Jack Sorel and Fermin Calvo Barcelo in line three.

“Today’s match was not our best performance,” Hernandez said. “It was one of those where our team was divided.”

The Bisons were unable to take away the Owls’ lead.

Penny, playing in line four, lost 6-1 in both sets to Kennesaw’s Sebastian Osorio, which put the Bisons down 2-0.

Chaw gave hope when he had a dominating performance against Kennesaw’s best player, Barcelo, winning 6-0 in both sets and giving the Bisons their first point of the night.

“It is satisfying, but it doesn’t blow my mind,” Chaw said. “I know what I’m capable of.”

“I think Victor had arguably his best performance I’ve seen in a while over a really great player at Kennesaw State,” Hernandez said. “I’d like to give him credit because he really did earn it. I want people to know that he performed really well.

Playing in line three for Lipscomb’s Ortegon was Uribe, and he lost to Triana 6-4 and 6-1, putting the Bisons down 3-1.

Kennesaw now only needed one more singles point to earn the victory, and Lipscomb’s Tacconi gave away that point in line six when he lost 6-2 in both sets to Jose Galvez.

Shortly after, de Torres Curth retired from his match against Lipscomb’s Caffarena, who won the first set 7-5 and was up 3-2 in the second, giving Lipscomb its second point of the night.

In line five, Lipscomb’s Skrabut was defeated in a three-set match by Patel 6-2, 6-2 and 7-5 to end the match.

Lipscomb will play against Liberty on Saturday, March 30 at 3 p.m. CT in Lynchburg, Va.

Photo by Lipscomb Athletics

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