HATTIESBURG, Miss. – The Midwestern State Mustangs managed to grab just one point away from home standing William Carey as the Crusaders marched on to an 8-1 win Saturday to start the Mustangs spring break trip in the Southeast.
 
William Carey (4-2), ranked 13th in the NAIA, opened the match by sweeping the doubles points, then taking all but one of the singles from the Mustangs (5-4), ranked 30th in NCAA Division II.
 
The Mustangs got their only point from Luke Joyce, who returned from an injury to the lineup, with a 3-6, 6-3, 10-7 win three set win at No. 3 singles over Thomas Rizk.
 
"Luke showed true leadership as a captain the way he stepped up today after being sideline for awhile," said Coach Scott Linn.
 
Jay Henton, playing at No. 6 singles, extended his point to three sets before falling to Robin Semal 4-6, 6-3, 10-0.
 
Mario Urban lost at No. 1 singles to Jody Claasen 6-3, 6-0, while Colby Meeks fell to Ricky Keppeler 6-1, 6-2 at No. 2.
 
Kacper Boborykin lost at No. 4 singles to MC Visser 6-3, 6-3, as Tomas Grejtak was downed at No. 5 singles to Younes Hidass 6-2, 7-6.
 
The Mustangs stumbled in the doubles and never quite recovered.
 
Meeks and Urban fell at No. 1 to Rizk and Claassen, the eight ranked pair in the NAIA, 8-3.
 
Liston and Grejtak battled at No. 2 but fell 8-6 to Keppeler and Visser, while Rory de Boer and Boborykin lost 8-6 at No. 3 to Semal and Alvar Ribalta.
 
"We got better execution at No. 3, just didn't quite get the result," Linn added.
 
The Mustangs continue their spring break trip in the Southeast on Monday against Embry-Riddle in Daytona Beach, Fla.