SSU men's tennis wins first-ever conference match, collects 7-0 victory over Indiana-East
Since the 2016-17 academic year, the Shawnee State men's tennis program has competed valiantly against outside competition from the NCAA Division I level to the NAIA level.
From the start of that 2016-17 season through Friday, the program had notched 33 victories, including 12 triumphs against various programs inside state lines.
Never, however, had the program ever achieved a victory against a conference opponent.
That fact, as of Saturday, is history.
Shawnee State not only won its first-ever conference match in program history, but did so in its first-ever match against River States Conference competition in rather convincing fashion over Indiana-East, as of the 15 officially contested sets that occurred Saturday, 11 of them were won by three games or larger as the Bears swept the Red Wolves, 7-0, in an RSC match that was held at Daehler Tennis Courts.
Doubles action
In doubles play, the No. 2 doubles unit of Keenen Lambert and Zayden Rinehart and the No. 3 doubles pairing of Abubakar Yakabu Lea and Zinedine Arva Purbo made quick work of Indiana-East's No. 2 doubles pairing of Clay Conner and Bryson Hale and the Red Wolves' Jace Wilkerson and Bryce Wennen by 6-1 and 6-0 margins, respectively, to clinch the doubles point for Shawnee State before No. 1 doubles action even finished.
However, the No. 1 doubles contest was arguably the most well-contested -- and most heated -- of the afternoon. When the dust settled at the top of the board, SSU's No. 1 doubles pairing of Ishamael Dowuona and Ivan Wularu, and their composure down the stretch, outlasted Indiana-East's No. 1 doubles pairing of Sebastian Torrealba and Kyle Hollingsworth in a thrilling 7-5 match that featured high intensity and high quality play on both sides of the court.
Singles action
Singles play for Shawnee State was, in a word, swift as the Bears blitzed the Red Wolves from No. 1 singles through No. 6 singles.
At the top of the line, Abubakar Yakabu Lea and Ishamael Dowuona each collected 6-3, 6-4 triumphs at No. 1 singles and No. 2 singles over Sebastian Torrealba and Kyle Hollingsworth. Then, Zinedine Arva Purbo and Ivan Wularu followed at No. 3 and No. 4 singles with 6-0 wins in the opening set of their contests against Indiana-East's Bryce Wennen and Bryson Hale, respectively, with the pair closing out straight set wins of their own by collecting second set victories of 6-3 and 6-1 in that order.
Veteran Shawnee State tennis hands Keenen Lambert and Zayden Rinehart closed the deal on a clean sweep for the Bears, with Lambert notching a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Clay Conner at No. 5 singles and Rinehart posting a 6-1, 6-2 dub over Jace Wilkerson at No. 6 singles, competing sweeps of all 15 sets by the Bears.
Additional
In addition to the historical significance of the victory itself, the contest featured the first-ever matchup between two Shawnee State coaches who hail from the program -- as Shawnee State
Shawnee State (5-8, 1-0 RSC) gets back to action Sunday afternoon with a huge River States Conference matchup against No. 22 ITA-NAIA and No. 25 NAIA Coaches Poll ranked Oakland City (7-5, 1-0 RSC) in Oakland City, Ind. The match will commence at 3:30 p.m. ET/2:30 p.m. CT.
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