For the third season in a row, the Goshen College men’s tennis team has advanced to the Crossroads League semifinals.
The fourth-seeded Maple Leafs won their quarterfinal matchup this past Tuesday against Huntington University, at the Goshen College Tennis Complex. Goshen defeated the Foresters 5-2, the same scoreline they achieved when the two teams met two weeks ago during the regular season. All four higher seeds won Tuesday in the first round of postseason play.Goshen’s top three seeds all won their matchups to give the Maple Leafs points on the board. Filippo Bigardi, a senior, won his No.1 seed matchup 7-2 and 6-2; Dan Boussom, a junior, won the No. 2 singles match 6-2 and 7-5; and Juan Miguel Ciudad, a senior, won the No. 3 singles match 7-5 and 6-2.
The Foresters were able to gain their two points in the fourth and fifth seeds as Diego Tapia defeated Goshen’s Josh Friesen 7-5 and 6-2, while Sebastian Salas defeated the Maple Leaf’s Hermes Flores. Flores was able to win the first set 7-6 before losing the second set with the same scoreline. The match went to a tiebreaker ending in a close 15-13 in favor of Salas.
Luke Rush, a senior, gave the Maple Leafs the final singles win, which was his first for the season. Rush won both sets by a score of 6-1.
Goshen remained victorious in all three of the doubles matchups. The team of Martim Cafe and Friesen won their matchup 7-5, Bigardi and Ciudad won theirs 6-3, and Boussom and Rush came out on top, 6-4.
The Maple Leafs now travel to top-seeded Indiana Wesleyan this Thursday for the semifinal match up. Just two years ago, the Maple Leafs were knocked out of the competition at this same stage by the Wildcats. The first serve is set for 4 p.m., and the winner will advance to the championship match this Saturday against either Marian or Grace.
