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Men's tennis team takes RMAC title
Roadrunners avenge 2006 loss to Kearney, ending Lopers streak
By Eric Lansing
lansing@mscd.edu

Photo by Emily Mehring • emehring@mscd.edu Metro tennis player Sascha Ruckelshausen warms up before his doubles match April 17 against Western New Mexico at Auraria Courts. Ruckelshausen won his singles and doubles matches in the RMAC finals.

The Metro men’s tennis team did something that hasn’t been done in more than three years: They won the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Tournament Championship April 21 in Pueblo.

The Roadrunners defeated Nebraska-Kearney 5-2, which was the first conference loss for the Lopers since May 2004.

Metro advanced to the RMAC finals after defeating Western New Mexico 5-0 on April 20 in Pueblo. They swept the Mustangs in doubles competition and clinched the match after Mark Milner and Sean Carlton won their singles matches.

“We played great in doubles,” Alden said. “Sean and David (Scott) played lights-out in doubles and Sean carried that over to singles.”

Before their loss to the Roadrunners on April 21, the Lopers had won 23 straight matches dating back to the 2004 NCAA Tournament when Colorado State University of Pueblo defeated Nebraska-Kearney. The Lopers also won three straight RMAC Tournament titles before losing to Metro, which was a rematch of the 2006 title match where the Lopers took the 5-2 victory.

In the finals, the Roadrunners took two out of three doubles matches against Kearney. The only loss came from Scott and Carlton who fell 8-3 to Kearney’s Luke Backhaus and Miguel Acosta.

Metro’s Milner clinched the title after defeating Drew Mercier 6-3 and 6-2. Milner also won his doubles match, pairing with Drew Machholz to defeat Kearney’s Andres Espinoza and Mercier.  The title was Metro’s first conference championship since the 2003 season. The men’s team now waits for their seeding in the NCAA Tournament that will be announced April 25.

Last year in the NCAA Tournament, Metro’s men lost in the first round against Northwest Missouri State 5-1.

The only win came when Milner and Machholz defeated Daniel Isieto and Jake Saulsbury in doubles, 8-5.

The women’s team earned the No. 5 seed in the RMAC Tournament, but fell to No. 4-seeded CSU-Pueblo 6-3 in the first round.

The Thunderwolves took two of the three doubles matches and four of the six singles matches to end the Roadrunners difficult season.

The only victories for Metro came from Mitra Hirad, who won in straight sets over Jamie Raun 6-3 and 6-4, and Alecia Jenkins, who came away with the match against Jessica Hardy 6-3, 3-6 and 1-0 (6).

Metro’s women have only won two matches all year, but with six underclassmen on the roster, plenty of experience was gained for next year.

“We battled and the girls left everything out on the court,” Alden said. “Alecia had a fantastic win and we hope to build on that going into next year.”