Box Score

INDIANAPOLIS - The IUPUI men's tennis team battled in-state foe IPFW in Summit League play for four-plus hours on Sunday afternoon, but came up on the short end of a 4-3 decision inside the Indianapolis Tennis Center. The Jaguars won the doubles point, but the guest Mastodons won four of the six singles matches to ultimately claim the decision.

At No. 1 doubles, Klingenberg and Yunes sprinted to an 8-5 win, leaving the point in the hands of the lower two tandems. The No. 3 pairing of Joel Modesitt and Taylor Tunis nearly clinched it with a service break at 8-7, but came up short on match point four times before falling . IPFW's team of Luis Sanado and Junya Saruto was finally held though, forcing a tiebreak. The Mastodons' No. 3 team blitzed Modesitt and Tunis in the break though, knotting the doubles at 1-1. 

At the same time, the savvy No. 2 team of freshmen Deon Shafer and Nick Volz was in the process of climbing out of a 6-1 hole on the middle court. Shafer and Volz used three services breaks with the third coming on a point penalty against IPFW (8-12, 1-2 Summit) for arguing in the come-from-behind win. Shafer's service game completed the win, giving IUPUI (4-16, 2-2) the match's initial point.

Shafer took the momentum into his No. 3 singles match as he cruised by his opponent, 6-2, 6-0. 

Still, singles points were hard to come by. 

IPFW sealed a similarly quick win at No. 2 and saw their No. 6 and 1 players complete their victories within less than five minutes of each other. Still, the Jaguars continued to fight. 

With Volz at No. 4 and Modesitt at No. 5 dealing on opposite courts, the pendulum seemed to swing back and forth between victory and defeat. Modesitt kept the match alive, beating Junya Sarato in a second set tiebreak to force a third set. Moments later, it was Volz who kept IUPUI in play by beating Luis Sando in a third set tiebreak to knot the match at 3-3. 

Modesitt and Saruto remained on the courts for almost an hour after the other singles matches had finished with IPFW's No. 5 player deciding the outcome by virtue of a 6-3, 6-7 (12-10), 6-3 victory.

IUPUI will return to action on Apr. 9 when the Jaguars will take on Centenary in Summit League play at the UMKC cluster in Kansas City, Mo.. The Jags are also slated to play Western Illinois during that weekend.