Alexander Continues Consistency versus Frostburg

FROSTBURG, MD – Matt Alexander won a hard-earned victory in his singles match when the Franciscan University of Steubenville Barons tennis team faced Frostburg State University on Monday.  The Barons lost 8-1 overall, and dropped to a 1-6 season standing and 1-4 in the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference.

Alexander faced Frostburg's Christian Ernst, winning his first set 7-6, losing his second set 7-4, then rallying back to take a 6-4 win in the third set to take the match.

“Matt is more focused and getting his strokes down for each game, showing he's more comfortable on the court,” Barons head coach Curtis Allen remarked.  “He knows that he can beat these guys – it is definitely a mental game.”

Brad Mathisen forced a third set in his 6-2, 7-6, 7-3 loss to Josh Galvez, while Chris Cooper lost 6-1, 6-4 to Mike Stevenson, and Andrew Straub lost 6-1, 6-4 to Ramon Gutierrez.  Nick Cundiff fell 6-2, 6-2 to Eddie McMurtrie, and Adam Vanlieshout lost 6-0, 6-1 to Paul Rooke.

In doubles, the Barons showed their aggressiveness, but lost each match by two points.  Cundiff and Straub lost 8-6, Cooper and Alexander lost 8-6, and Mathisen and Vanlieshout lost 9-7.

“Overall, we played our best so far,” Allen said.  “I was very pleased with how we played.  We played really well in doubles – all three games were really close. This is so good that we are playing [Frostburg] back to back. We see what we did wrong to better ourselves, making tomorrow's match much more competitive.”

The Barons rematch Frostburg on the Franciscan University home courts tomorrow at 4 p.m.