Men's tennis falls short to Bradley

MACOMB, Ill. - The Western Illinois men's tennis team fell short, Thursday, as Bradley defeated the Fighting Leathernecks 5-2.

Jeff Cote and Rodrigo Azevedo won No. 2 doubles and Francisco Ortiz and Patrick Hammers paired for a win on the No. 3 court to get Western off on the right foot with the doubles point.

"This one got away from us," Western Illinois head coach Michael Hunt said. "We won the doubles point and were up in three matches and just didn't close it out. Give Bradley credit - they picked up their games and came back to beat us. I don't feel like we gave anything away - they just earned it."

Hammers went on to defeat Bradley's Brock Reiman, 6-0 and 6-1, in No. 4 singles for Western's lone singles win. Ortiz took the Braves' Juan Diego Cuadrado into three sets on the No. 2 court, falling 4-6, 6-3 and 6-2. Jim Calpalbo took the No. 5 court into three sets, but suffered a 4-6, 7-6 (2), 6-3 defeat to Richard Robertson.

"We've got to learn how to maintain our intensity and focus from the end of a set through the next set. We didn't do well with that today," Hunt said. "Patrick had a good day - he's really played well the last few matches."

The Leathernecks continue competition against Quincy at 4 p.m., Friday, April 16 in Quincy, Ill., and will take on St. Francis, Saturday, in Macomb.

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Players Mentioned

Francisco Ortiz: PLAYER; Junior

Patrick Hammers: PLAYER; Sophomore

Jeff Cote: PLAYER; Junior

Rodrigo Azevedo: Freshman

Players Mentioned

Francisco Ortiz
: Junior
: PLAYER

Patrick Hammers
: Sophomore
: PLAYER

Jeff Cote
: Junior
: PLAYER

Rodrigo Azevedo
: Freshman