17 Apr 2024 Harding men’s tennis defeats Ouachita Baptist 

The Harding men’s tennis team defeated No. 25-ranked Ouachita Baptist in Arkadelphia on Tuesday 5-2. The Bisons are now 13-7 on the season with three additional wins against junior colleges and are 2-1 in conference play. The Bisons have won three of their last four matches against ranked opponents. 

For the 11th time in the last 13 matches, the Bisons began by winning the doubles point and taking the early 1-0 lead. Jaydon Van Vreden and Caleb Folse won the opening match 6-4 at No. 2. The pair have now won a team leading 12 doubles matches. Cas de Ruiter and Teodor Zlatar, the third-ranked doubles pair in Division II, clinched the point with a 6-4 victory of their own, taking down the seventh-ranked duo of Alex Blanchar and Phil Exner.

The Tigers responded quickly, grabbing the first two singles matches at No. 1 and No. 3 to take the 2-1 lead with four matches remaining. Cian Mikkelsen leveled the match at 2-2 with a 6-4, 6-3 win at No. 4. Zlatar took down the No. 21-ranked singles player in a tight three-setter, winning 7-6, 1-6, 6-3 at No. 2. Zlatar improves to 13-5 on the season. 

Needing just one win to clinch the match, Luis Agullo picked up his tenth match of the season, winning 6-4, 6-2 at No. 5. Bryce Walker put a stamp on the match with a win at No. 6 in a third set tiebreaker, winning 6-4, 6-7, 10-5. 

The Bisons will finish up the regular season next Friday April 26 when they travel to Wichita, Kansas, to take on Newman.