The Harding men's tennis team upset No. 24 Drury late Friday night into Saturday morning 4-3 and defeated Missouri Valley on Saturday afternoon 7-0 in the opening weekend of the Spring portion of the season. It was the first time since February 1, 2020, that the Bisons have beaten a nationally ranked team when they defeated No. 10 Midwestern St. 4-3.
On Friday in doubles action, the Bisons won at the No. 3 line, with
Milosh Petrovic and
Cas de Ruiter winning their first match as a team 6-3. After falling at No. 1, the Bisons relied on their No. 6 ranked doubles team in the Central Region to secure the doubles point. Alvaro de Lorenzo and
Morgan Salvan won 7-3 in the set tiebreaker to take the early 1-0 for the Bisons. The win was the 20
th career win as a duo for de Lorenzo and Salvan.
Bryce Walker scored the second point of the match with a 6-3, 6-3 win at No. 6 singles. Salvan, the 19
th-ranked singles player in the Central Region, put the Bisons just one win away from taken the match with a 6-4, 6-2 win at No. 4.
The Bisons dropped the next three matches at No. 1, No. 3 and No. 5 and relied on
Arthur Bellan to win the match. After dropping the first set, Bellan rallied to take the next two sets and the match 5-7, 6-1, 6-4 to secure the team win.
After a late night, the Bisons returned to the Cooper Tennis Complex for a 1 p.m. start time against Missouri Valley. The Bisons won the doubles point with 6-4 wins in all three doubles matches. De Lorenzo and Salvan won their fourth straight match at No. 2.
In singles action, the Bisons did not drop a set in six matches. Salvan moved to the No. 3 line on Saturday and won 6-4, 6-1. Bellan won 6-4, 6-4 at the No. 2 and
Dani Ortiz won his first match of the season with a tight 7-6, 7-6 match at No. 1 to secure the match for the Bisons.
Walker moved to the No. 5 line and won 6-4, 6-2 while de Lorenzo won 6-1, 6-2 at No. 4. Petrovic made his singles debut this season with a 6-2, 6-2 win at No. 6.
The Bisons will play four matches next weekend in Dallas, Texas starting with Texas-Tyler on Friday February 18 at 10 a.m.
