FRESNO, Calif. - In a match played down to the wire the Fresno Pacific Sunbirds suffered heartbreak as they fell 4-3 to the #30 University of Texas-Permian Basin Falcons Thursday afternoon at the Haak Tennis Complex.
In the doubles, the Falcons and Sunbirds split the first two courts, with the Falcons taking Court 1 6-4, and the Sunbirds Gregor Kliimask and Martin Ramirez taking Court 3 6-3.
The deciding match came down to Court 2, where Sven Bangert and Ben Cronau couldn't quite hold on falling 6-2 to give the Falcons the point.
The Sunbirds earned their first point of the day on Court 5 where Emilio Seelbach dominated his opponent in a straight set win 6-1, 6-1.
UTPB countered back with two wins of their own on Courts 2 and 3.
On Court 6, Kliimask found himself in a battle after winning the first 7-5, dropped the 6-3, only to come back and dominate in the third 6-0 giving the Sunbirds another match saving point.
The Sunbirds evened the score with a victory on Court 1, where Ravi Nelson defeated #42 Vitaliy Horovoy 7-5, 7-5.
The deciding match came down to Court 4 where Martin Ramirez was in the middle of a back-and-forth match.
Ramirez won the first set 7-6 in a tiebreaker 7-5 and dropped the second 7-6 in another tiebreaker 7-3.
It all came down to a third set, where Ramirez fought but ultimately 7-5 giving the Falcons the final point and 4-3 victory.
Fresno Pacific will look to bounce back with a rematch against CUI Saturday afternoon at 2pm.
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