SEARCY – Most of the time when Harding finishes the doubles portion of its dual matches, sophomore Neto Cacace's day is done. He thought that Friday's match against 36th-ranked Missouri-St. Louis would be the same. He even scheduled a lesson with a local high school student after the completion of Harding's match.
"I didn't think I'd be playing singles," Cacace, hunched over in a chair and face dripping with sweat, told teammates at the end of his exhausting three-set victory at No. 6 singles that gave Harding a 5-4 come-from-behind win.
Cacace, a native of Sao Paulo, Brazil, was pressed into action when Harding's No. 2 singles player David Korsten had to sit out singles after aggravating a knee injury during his doubles match. Each of Harding's singles players moved up one spot, and head coach Marco Ruiz inserted Cacace at No. 6.
Harding, ranked No. 45 in NCAA II, dug itself a huge hole early by losing all three doubles matches by very close scores.
With doubles completed and Harding down 3-0, Ruiz and his Bisons retreated to his office to talk about singles and what it would take to pull off an unlikely turnaround.
"I told them to keep fighting," Ruiz said. "I told them to relax, forget about the score, and just give 100 percent."
One by one the dominoes began to fall in singles.
Senior Jon Mark Rowden got the comeback off to a great start with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Nils Mueggenberg, the No. 11 singles player in the NCAA II Midwest Region, at No. 1. It was Rowden's first victory in 10 career matches against a regionally-ranked player.
Freshman Carlos Crisostomo, who usually plays No. 3 singles, pulled Harding with 3-2 with a 6-1, 2-6, 6-2 victory at No. 2. Crisostomo had lost five straight singles matches, including three three-set matches prior to Friday's win.
Missouri-St. Louis (5-3) pulled ahead 4-2 with a victory at No. 3 singles with three matches remaining.
Adrian Torrico, a freshman from Bolivia who had won his last three matches without dropping a set, made the score 4-3 with a 6-3, 6-3 victory at No. 5.
The two remaining matches were in the third set. At No. 4 singles, sophomore Brandon Hogland had lost badly, 6-1, in his first set but came back to win the second set 6-3. Cacace lost a tight first set 6-4 but rallied to win a tiebreaker 7-6 in the second set.
Hogland's powerful topspin forehands proved too much for Missouri-St. Louis' Alberto Maza in the final set. With one final forehand up the line on match point, Hogland tied the match 4-4 with a 6-3 victory in the third set and left Cacace alone to decide it.
Fans and teammates cheered every point down the stretch, and Cacace broke Irving Corrales' serve twice in the final set, including on match point, to win 6-3 and give the Bisons their first victory over a nationally-ranked team this season.
Harding will take the weekend off before practicing Monday in preparation for Tuesday's road match against Arkansas-Pine Bluff.
