The Northwest Missouri State men’s tennis team held off the 14th-ranked team in NAIA Lindsey Wilson taking a season opening 5-4 victory on Saturday.

The Bearcats held off one of the top teams in NAIA as the Blue Raiders staged a valiant comeback in singles after Northwest took a 3-0 lead following doubles action.

In the top doubles match, Mario Jakovljevic and Jose Ortega used an 8-5 win over Lindsey Wilson’s Pablo Vilches and Gilles Cornelis to give the Bearcats the early 1-0 lead.

The duo of Guilherme Narducci and Rafael Bugiga — who are ranked fourth in the south central region — doubled the Bearcat lead to 2-0 with a hard-fought 9-7 win over Fabricio Morales and Marlon Dal Pont at No. 2 doubles.

Northwest completed the doubles sweep as Calvin Patterson and Luis Altimires outlasted Fernando Bogajo and Victor Saez 9-8.

Lindsey Wilson picked up its first point as Saez took a 6-1, 7-5 victory in No. 4 singles. However, Jakovljevic would push the Bearcat lead to 3-1 after beating Morales 6-3, 7-5 at No. 2 singles.

The Blue Raiders then began a gallant comeback with three straight singles wins to tie the match at 4-4.

Vilches beat Narducci 7-5, 7-5 in the No. 3 singles match and top-seeded Bogajo defeated Patterson 6-1, 4-6, 6-4. Dal Pont tied the match with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Ortega in the sixth singles match.

Northwest would stop the comeback in No. 5 singles as Altimires knocked off Cornelis 6-3, 6-2 and claim the 5-4 win.

The Bearcats take the week to regroup before returning to the court Feb. 26 as they travel to Ouachita Baptist.

— NWMSU Sports Information —