SSU men's tennis program drops 4-2 decision to Midway in RSC Semifinals; '24 season results in highest single-season win total in program history
The men's tennis program at Shawnee State put together a vailant effort in Thursday evening's River States Conference Semifinal matchup, but the No. 2-seeded Bears, despite a victory from top gun Abukakar Yakubu Lea at No. 1 singles, fell to the No. 3-seeded Midway Eagles' tennis program by a respectable 4-2 margin to see its season end at 10-12.
Yakubu Lea, who has been terrific all season long, teamed up with Zinedine Arva Purbo to collect a 6-4 victory over German Collado and Tyler Fox at No. 3 doubles. The No. 1 doubles pairing of Keenen Lambert and Zayden Rinehart, along with the No. 2 doubles pairing of Ishamael Dowuona and Ivan Wularu, each won three games apiece but fell in well-contested 6-3 contests to Midway's No. 1 doubles unit (Axel Sperling and Izan Casado) and the Eagles' No. 2 unit (Daniel Pinzon and Aditya Roy Chowdury), respectively, giving Midway the doubles point.
In singles play, Yakubu Lea again carried the flag for the Bears by being Pinzon in a 6-0, 6-3 domination that lasted just 29 minutes, and ran the freshman's singles record to 11-6 overall in 2024 alone. Collado countered with a win at No. 4 singles in 44 minutes, bettering Lambert 6-1, 6-2 to give Midway a 2-1 point edge.
Behind them at No. 5 singles, Wularu allowed SSU to tie the match at two apiece, as Wularu beat Roy Chowdury by a 6-2, 6-3 margin to even the match back up. However, over the following minute, Arva Purbo dropped his contest at No. 3 singles by a 6-2, 6-1 decision, and in a grueling, hard-fought battle at No. 6 singles, Rinehart, in a highly-competitive match, fell 6-4, 3-6, 2-6 to Casado in a one-hour, 32-minute grudge match at the No. 6 slot that ultimately saw Midway seal the match victory. Dowuona, who defeated Sperling by a 6-3 margin in the first set and dropped the second set by a 7-5 count, held a 2-1 lead over Sperling in the third set before the play-to-clinch match was decided.
Despite the setback, Shawnee State (10-12) clinched the most victories in a single season in program history, its highest conference finish and highest conference tournament seeding in program history, and its best conference tournament showing in program history.
The Bears, in addition to the on-court performances, were led by the senior trio of Aiden White, Keenen Lambert and Zayden Rinehart. Rinehart has been with the men's tennis program since the 2019-20 season, White since the 2020-21 season, and Lambert since the 2021-22 campaign.
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