ST. JOSEPH, Mo. - No. 19 Northwest Missouri State made a slim 2-1 margin standup for a 5-4 win over No. 29 Midwestern State Friday afternoon at the Tennis and Swim Club.

The Bearcats (10-2) claimed the top two doubles positions as Calvin Peterson and Vijit Sehgal outlasted MSU's Vjekoslav Stipanic and Luke Joyce 8-6 at No. 1, while Malcolm Harrison and Daniel Quesada upended Bo Zaputovic and Mario Urban 8-3 at No. 2.

The Mustangs (10-3) scored a win at No. 3 as Jarrod Liston and Chad Meeks doubled up Northwest Missouri's Philip Hultquist and Giovanni Auricchio 8-4 at No. 3 to pull MSU within 2-1 going into singles play.

And only two of those were decided in straight sets as NWMSU's 29th-ranked Harrison defeated Urban 6-2, 6-4 at No. 1 and MSU's Zaputovic ousted Hultquist 6-1, 6-3.

The rest of the four matches were settled in third-set tiebreakers with Mustangs notching a mild upset at No. 2 where Stipanic edged 53rd-ranked Patterson 5-7, 7-6, 10-5.

Midwestern also claimed the No. 6 match as Tiago Vilarinho defeated Auricchio 2-6, 6-3, 10-8, but the Mustangs couldn't find another win to overcome its deficit at the end of doubles' play.

Northwest Missouri's Sehgal beat Joyce 6-4, 3-6, 10-7 at No. 3, while Quesada clinched the match for the Bearcats with a 7-6, 4-6, 10-8 decision over MSU's Rory de Boer at No. 5.

Midwestern State returns to the courts Tuesday afternoon against Tyler Junior College at the MSU Tennis Center. First serve is set for 3 p.m.