GREENTOWN, Ind. – No. 24 Indiana Wesleyan University men’s tennis continues to play well against top NAIA competition. The Wildcats battled but lost 6-3 to No. 8 Xavier (La.) on Saturday in Greentown, Indiana which saw a 9-8 loss in doubles and numerous close matches in singles play.

MATCH VITALS

Score:  Xavier def. Indiana Wesleyan, 6-3
Records:  Indiana Wesleyan 19-7   |   Xavier 8-4
Location:   Howard County Tennis Center   |   Greentown, Indiana 

DOUBLES

No. 1:  Perez/Anders (XU) def. Eli Steiner/Grant Esposito (IWU) 8-3
No. 2:  Niculescu/Chikhaoui (XU) def. Diego Freire/Riley Worland (IWU) 9-8
No. 3:  Andrew Block/Grant Yager (IWU) won by default
 

SINGLES

No. 1:  Santiago Perez (XU) def. Eli Steiner (IWU) 6-3, 6-2
No. 2:  Samir Chikhaoui (XU) def. Diego Freire (IWU) 6-4, 7-6
No. 3:  Grant Esposito (IWU) def. Gabriel Niculescu (XU) 6-7, 6-4, 11-9
No. 4:  Chris Anders (XU) def. Riley Worland (IWU) 6-4, 6-2
No. 5:  Pierre Andrieu (XU) def. Tyler Abbott (IWU) 7-5, 6-1
No. 6:  Grant Yager (IWU) won by default
 

COACH SHIGLEY SAYS…

“Our men’s team played another top-10 team extremely close, losing 6-3. We had some opportunities to win the match as No. 2 doubles lost 9-8 and Diego lost a super close match. Espo played another great match winning 11-9 in the third set. We are right there with some of the best teams in the nation, but need to come away with a victory against a top-15 team. It’s coming as we have a lot of very good matches left this season.”
 

UP NEXT FOR MEN’S TENNIS

Indiana Wesleyan travels to Bellarmine (Ky.) on Friday in Louisville, Kentucky. Match time is scheduled for 4 p.m.