Bobcat Netters Topple Aggies, Yellowjackets

Friday, February 22

Bozeman, MT

9:00 am

Montana State University

UTAH STATE

Prithiv Sivasubramaniam won a pair of big matches Friday

Photo by: R. Dean Hendrickson

2/22/2013 9:05:00 PM | Men's Tennis

MSU avenges earlie loss to Utah State

By: Bill Lamberty

His match was not over, but Montana State junior Prithiv Sibasubramaniam knew after breaking Brandon Nielsen's serve to grab a 4-2 lead in game three of the day's deciding match that he was in pretty good shape.

“It was a big point,” he said simply after his come-from-behind 5-7, 6-1, 6-3 win catapulted the Bobcats to a 4-3 win over Utah State in the Bobcat-Anderson Tennis Center Friday. The win avenged a 5-2 Aggies win in Logan earlier in the month, and preceded a 5-2 win over MSU-Billings later in the day.

“Prithiv really dug deep and got a big win for us,” said Bobcat coach Jared Burnham, a former team captain at Utah State. “He's struggled at times, but he played well today and showed some toughness. And we needed him.”

It seemed unlikely that MSU would be in contention late in the singles matches after dropping the doubles point against USU. The Bobcats led all three doubles matches simultaneously at one point, but dropped two of the three. MSU took three of the first four singles matches – including wins by Javier Martin-Morillas at No. 2, Markus Schleuter at No. 3, and Diego Campos at No. 4 – but when USU's Sean Levesque edged Harry James 6-4, 7-6 at No. 5 the Bobcats faced a 3-3 tie and turned to Sivasubramaniam.

“Overall the match was pretty close,” he said, “so I knew I had to fight for the set. I knew when I got into the third set that I needed to get off to a good start.”

That good start to game three set up the big early win, but a slow start caused pause in the day's second match. MSU-Billings led several of the singles matches early, but the Bobcats won the doubles point by taking two of those three matches, then won four singles matches. Sivasubramaniam capped his day with a 6-0, 6-1 victory over Josh Hedderig, while Niklas Brandes earned a 3-6, 6-2, 6-1 comeback win over Navin Marimutha at No. 1 singles.

MONTANA STATE 4, UTAH STATE 3
February 22, 2013 * Bobcat-Anderson Tennis Center * Bozeman, MT

SINGLES
1. Sven Poslusny (USU) def. Niklas Brandes (MSU) 6-3, 6-4
2. Javier Martin-Morillas (MSU) def. Fredrik Petersen (USU) 7-5, 6-3
3. Markus Schleuter (MSU) def. Matt Sweet (USU) 6-4, 6-2
4. Diego Campos (MSU) def. Curran Wearmouth (USU) 6-2, 6-1
5. Sean Levesque (USU) def. Harry James (MSU) 6-4, 7-6
6. Prithiv Sivasubramanian (MSU) def. Brandon Nielsen (USU) 5-7, 6-1, 6-3
Order of finish: 4-2-3-1-5-6

DOUBLES
1. Brandes/Campos (MSU) def. Poslusny/Sweet (USU), 8-6
2. Petersen/Levesque (USU) def. Schleuter/Martin-Morillas (MSU), 9-8
3. Whiting/Wearmouth (USU) def. James/Sivasubramaniam (MSU), 8-4
Order of finish: 1-3-2

MONTANA STATE 5, MSU-BILLINGS 2
February 22, 2013 * Bobcat-Anderson Tennis Center * Bozeman, MT

SINGLES
1. Niklas Brandes (MSU) def. Navin Marimutha (MSUB) 3-6, 6-2, 6-1
2. Christian Fischer (MSUB) def. Javier Martin-Morillas (MSU) 6-2, 6-2
3. Markus Schleuter (MSU) def. Brad Knutson (MSUB) 6-3, 6-2
4. Diego Campos (MSU) def. Brandon Beardsley (MSUB) 7-5, 6-4
5. Kavindu Gamage (MSUB) def. Harry James (MSU) 6-4, 4-6, 11-9
6. Prithiv Sivasubramaniam (MSU) def. Josh Hedderig (MSUB) 6-0, 6-1

DOUBLES
1. Brandes/Campos (MSU) def. Fischer/Knutson (MSUB) 8-5
2. Marimutha/Bearsley (MSUB) def. Martin-Morillas/Schleuter (MSU) 9-7
3. James/Sivasubramaniam (MSU) def. Gamage/Hedderig (MSUB) 8-6