Box Score DES MOINES, Iowa (Sept. 14, 2024) - The Buena Vista University men's tennis team played its first official match of the fall season on Saturday afternoon by facing Cornell College, but it was the Rams hanging on to edge the Beavers in a hard fought match, 6-1.

BVU had leads in all three doubles match at one point or another, but the Rams would rally to win all three. Henry Borts and Dalton Pregon fell 6-4 at No. 1 while Brock Bruns and Ryan Webb dropped their No. 2 match by the same score. At No. 3, the tandem of Tyler Harger and Bryson Frederickson was edged, 6-3.

Bruns played arguably the most thrilling singles match of the contest but came up just short in a tough three-set tiebreaker. He dropped the first set 6-3 and then bounced back with a strong 6-1 decision to force the tiebreaker where he would come up just short, 10-7.

The lone victory by the Beavers came at No. 6 with Harger registering a 6-3, 7-6 (7-4) triumph for his fifth career singles win.

"It was a great opportunity today for us to get out and play some competitive matches," said BVU head coach Brett Groen. "We started out very competitive in doubles, even had a lead in all three doubles matches, before a few missed serves and serve receives cost us games. In the new scoring format you just can't have many mistakes."

"We battled very hard in singles as well," added Groen. "Dalton played very tough at number one had a couple of points get away from him that would have changed the first set. At number three singles, Brock Bruns battled hard and took it to a third set tiebreak, and Tyler got us a great win at number six singles finishing off the day in a tiebreak."

Buena Vista is 0-1 on the year and will return to the court on Sunday afternoon for a non-conference neutral match in Indianola, Iowa, against Monmouth College. That match-up is set to begin at noon.