After he lost the tie-breaking third set of his No. 1 nearly three-hour long singles match Friday against Toledo senior Aleksandar Elezovic, sophomore Jose Carlos Gutierrez Crowley slammed his racket against the playing surface in frustration.
The loss allowed Toledo to walk out of the Helfaer Tennis Stadium with a close 4-3 victory over the Marquette men's tennis team, its first home loss of the season.
"We kind of showed our age a little bit (Friday)," coach Steve Rodecap said.
Compared with Toledo's four seniors, the mostly freshmen and sophomore Golden Eagles lacked experience. But Rodecap said poor doubles play was the killer, as Marquette lost two of its three doubles matches to start the day off down in points, 1-0.
It had to be an odd feeling for Marquette, as it took all three doubles matches last year when these two teams met on Feb. 4.
Sophomore Otavio Perim and freshman Thibault Troude were the only Marquette pair to take its doubles match at the No. 3 doubles against Toledo seniors Aleksander Elezovic and Sven Burus.
It's been some time since the Marquette men earned a point for doubles, which last happened against Jacksonville on March 16.
The Golden Eagles lost the doubles point to Winthrop two days later and have not played a doubles match since then, competing only singles during the Boise State Spring Break Classic March 25 and 26.
Singles matches began as Troude defeated Toledo junior Leo Sarria (6-2, 7-5) to tie the score at 1-1.
Troude said Sarria played better during the second set and was more consistent in serving.
"I just tried to play to win every point," he said.
Perim faced Toledo senior Gursher Harika at the No. 4 position and pulled away after four match points, winning 7-6 in the second set to even the match at 3-3.
Since his freshman year, he has learned to better keep his composure in tight matches, he said.
Besides Troude and Perim's matches, each of the four matches went into three sets.
Junior Jonathan Schwerin, who entered the day with five straight singles match victories, was defeated in three sets by Toledo sophomore Bryant Dudzik (7-5, 3-6, 6-2).
After winning his first set at the No. 2 position, senior Jose Manuel Munoz fell to Burus 7-5 and 6-2 the final two sets.
On the opposite end of the court, Dan Mamalat struggled in his first set at No. 2 singles, losing 6-3 to Toledo senior Nutthavit Likitkumchorn, but won the second set, 6-4, and the third, 7-5.
"The bottom line is Toledo played really well," Rodecap said.