OWINGS MILLS, MD - After resuming play a day later, the Falcons split court one and two doubles to take a 2-1 lead into singles play. Messiah would drop four straight singles matches in straight sets to end their season 5-2Â at the hands of Stevenson.Â
Doubles
With court three locked up thanks to E. Martin/Niemi winning 8-6 yesterday, Messiah continued play on the other doubles courts at 3:00 PM this afternoon. After forcing a set tiebreak at 7-7, Baker/Gingerich fell short 8-6 in the tiebreak to tie the match at 1-all. Court one doubles was the last to finish as WIlson/Rose battled back to a 7-6 lead returning Bonta's serve. Wilson/Rose held a 40-love lead before Bonta/Johnson III brought it back to deuce where the teams would continue to go back and forth until finally Wilson/Rose won two straight points to clinch the win on court one 8-6.
The Falcons took that 2-1 lead into singles.
Singles
That success did not translate over to the singles courts, as no Falcon won a set in singles on the day.
Josh Gingerich was the first to finish on court four, losing 1-6, 0-6, before
Ellis Martin fell 0-6, 1-6 on court six as Stevenson took a 3-2 match lead.
Jonathan Baker was the next to finish, losing 1-6, 3-6 on court five, giving Stevenson a fourth overall point. With the Mustangs needing one more court to clinch the match, they got it on court two via Larry Johnson III, who beat
Connor Rose 2-6, 5-7 on court two, sealing the win for Stevenson 5-2.
Two matches were unable to finish including
Michael Sell on court three and
Chase Wilson on court one. Sell was in the middle of a second set tiebreak after losing his first set 1-6 on court three.
Chase Wilson had just only begun his second set after dropping the first set 6-7(6) in a first set tiebreak to Ben Porto.
Stevenson will travel to Lebanon Valley to face the No. 1 seeded Flying Dutchmen for the MAC Commonwealth Championship on May 7.
Going Forward
The Falcons season ends with an 8-11 mark and a MAC Commonwealth Semifinal appearance after losing to Stevenson in the Playoffs for the third consecutive year (not counting the 2020 canceled season). Messiah graduates one senior from this team,
Ellis Martin.
May 4
OWINGS MILLS, MD - The MAC Commonwealth Semifinal match between Messiah and Stevenson started at 3:00 PM on Wednesday afternoon, but could not finish due to a rain shower occurring an hour after the start of doubles.
Messiah holds a 1-0 lead after today, facing two deficits on the other doubles courts.
The match will resume tomorrow, May 5 at 3:00 PM in Owings Mills Md. at the satellite Greenspring Campus.
Doubles
Court three doubles was the only court to finish before the rain, with the team of E. Martin/Niemi winning a hard fought 8-6 battle to claim a point. The other two courts of doubles did not finish and will pick up where they left off this afternoon. The team of Wilson/Rose were down 5-6, tied 15-15 on Larry Johnson's serve on court one, while on court two, Baker/Gingerich were down 5-7, up 40-30 on Lukas Sanidas's serve.
The Falcons will make the drive to the satellite Greenspring Campus at Stevenson once again to resume the match tomorrow, May 5 at 3:00 PM.
