Skip To Main Content

Biola University Athletics

Scoreboard

The Official Athletic Site of the Biola University Eagles

Scoreboard

Callen Hein fist pump
Ethan McGarvey
3
Concordia Eagles CUI-MT
4
Winner Biola University BIO
Concordia Eagles CUI-MT
3
Final
4
Biola University BIO
Winner

Match Recap: Men's Tennis |

Hein Steps Up To Clinch

Biola gets a massive come-from-behind third-set win from Callen Hein to win fifth-place.

SURPRISE, Arizona — Just as in both regular season matches, the Saturday morning playoff match between Biola Men's Tennis and Concordia University Irvine turned out to go down to the wire in a 4-3 decision.

Callen Hein was the hero of the fifth-place match as he came from behind in his third set to clinch the match for Biola with every eye on him. Hein was down 4-2 in the decisive set and went on to win four games in a row to earn fifth-palce for his Eagles.

The fifth spot was the best Biola could hope for out of this tournament after suffering an upset on day one. They took care of business in the consolation bracket with close wins on back-to-back days.

This performance essentially locks Biola into the NCAA Division II West Region Championships.

Hein's match was nerve-wracking throughout. He won his first set 7-5, dropped the second set 6-4 and then earned that narrow comeback win in the clincher. He had to win the match to clinch a third singles win for BU who also won doubles on the day.

Biola got 6-3 wins at No. 1 doubles and No. 2 doubles to earn the first point of the match. Alexei Prokopchuk and Antonio Rosales Varona had a comeback of their own at No. 1 doubles. They went down 3-1 and charged back with five wins in a row to lock up the doubles point for Biola just a few minutes after the No. 2 pairing got a dub.

In singles, Prokopchuk's match was the first to finish. He put Biola ahead by two with a straight-set 6-0, 6-4 win and ended his day relatively early.

CUI won the next two matches to finish at the No. 5 spot and No. 1 spot to make it a 2-2 match.

Biola pulled back out in front courtesy a 6-4, 6-2 win from Tomas Gomez at the No. 4. spot. Gomez trailed 3-2 in his first set before stringing together a bunch of wins to lock it up. He also trailed 2-1 in set two but ultimately won to put Biola one match away on victory.

Concordia got a three-set win at No. 3 to tie things up at three team points a piece, which is where things stayed for about 40 full minutes as Hein and his opponent Younes Kodiji did battle for all the marbles. 

It was the first matchup of the season between the two competitors. Kodiji did have two previous three-set wins at No. 6 against Biola earlier this season. Neither of those came against Hein. His gutsy win makes Head Coach David Goodman feel great about his decision to insert Hein into the lineup.

The win brings Biola to 18-8 overall this season. They should move on to compete at regionals May 9-10. 
Print Friendly Version
Skip Ad

Sponsors