The LeTourneau University men's tennis team advanced to the semifinals of the 2015 American Southwest Conference Men's Tennis Championships with an exciting 5-4 win over Hardin-Simmons on Thursday in Tyler.
Weather conditions moved the match to Tyler Junior College but that did not phase the veteran YellowJackets. LeTourneau built an early 2-1 lead with wins at No. 2 and No. 3 doubles. The doubles tandem of Sindre Johnsgaard and Robbie Bundy were 8-4 winners at No. 3 doubles and
Michael McLaughlin and
Tyler Grove won 9-7 at No. 2 doubles. The win by Bundy and Johnsgaard extended their winning streak to five and it was the second-straight win by McLaughlin and Grove.
When the match shifted to singles, it was back and forth between the teams. Hardin-Simmons tied the match with a win at No. 6 singles, then
Morgan Weaver put LETU back ahead 3-2 with a 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 win at No. 3 singles. HSU picked up a win at No. 1 singles to tie it at 3, again LeTourneau had answer with a win by Johnsgaard at No. 2 singles, 7-5, 6-2. The win by Johnsgaard was his team-leading 12
th victory of the spring.
A win at No. 5 singles by HSU tied the match at 4 and the fate of the match to be decided at No. 4 singles. For LeTourneau, it was
Michael McLaughlin and for Hardin-Simmons, it was B.J. Farmakis. The first set went to Farmakis, 6-2 but McLaughlin bounced back to win the second set, 6-4. Then, it was a set for the ages. Farmakis built a 5-0 lead in the third set. McLaughin dug deep and rallied to win the next seven points and to secure the come-from-behind, 7-5 win.
The win advances LeTourneau to Friday's semifinals against Texas-Tyler at 11:30 a.m. at the Summers Tennis Center.
