UMKC men’s tennis rolled in doubles play, and took that momentum to a 5-2 victory on Wednesday at the Plaza Tennis Center against Northwest Missouri State.
The Roos (7-6) won at No. 1 and No. 2 doubles comfortably, before taking a tiebreak victory at the No. 3 position to sweep the Bearcats and head to singles play with a 1-0 lead.
UMKC jumped out fast in singles as well, winning the first set in five of the six matches, before clinching at both No. 2 and No. 4 by Andrey Smirnov and Mike Psarros, respectively, making it 3-0. Northwest Missouri closed it to 3-1 after a win at No. 6, while winning the second set at Nos. 1, 3 and 5.
Fortunately for the Roos, Airam Castellano and Uldis Gaismins each won the third sets at 1 and 3. Castellano took his 6-0, while Gaismins won in a tiebreaker. The Bearcats (3-1) kept fighting though, and took a second singles win at No. 5 in the third set.
UMKC will be off until next Saturday when they head to Omaha for a dual against Creighton.
UMKC 5, Northwest Missouri 2
3/9/2016 at Kansas City, Mo. (Plaza Tennis Center)