Senior Brock Bruns battled from start to finish in his No. 3 singles and forced a third-set tiebreaker after dropping the opening set, 7-6. He managed to bounce back with a solid 6-3 triumph in the second set before eventually coming up short 10-5 in the tiebreaker.
Loras went on to take the final five outings in straight sets to earn their first A-R-C win of the year (6-11, 1-3 A-R-C).
“Today was a hard day from top to bottom,” said BVU head coach Brett Groen. “I really think the emotional drain from Friday’s match stuck with us, and we just couldn’t get out of our own way at all. We certainly had high points where we were in the right positions and hitting the right shots, we just didn’t execute the finish. Normally we have been off to a great start with doubles, and it's fueled our singles. We didn’t have that today, and I think we were trying to play catch up on singles and pushing a bit much here and there. Still we battled, we did good things and things we can learn from, but a loss always hurts.”
There were also three exhibition singles matches that were played along with one doubles pairing. Ryan Smith, Owen Stansberry and Ben Langer-Yarosevich each played on the singles side but all came up short by identical 8-1 margins. Smith and Stansberry also teamed up for a doubles battle but would also fall 8-1.
Buena Vista slips to 7-8 overall (1-4 A-R-C) and next travels to Martin Luther College on Monday, Apr. 14, for a non-conference match against the Vikings at 3 p.m. before returning to Buntrock Tennis Courts on Apr. 22 against Central College in what will be the final home match of the year.
