CHARLESTON, W. Va. -- The University of Charleston Men's Tennis team downed the Lakers from Mercyhurst University on Saturday afternoon, winning 4-3 at the Schoenbaum Tennis Courts.
The men got off to a slow start in their first outside match dropping the doubles point to the visiting Lakers. The Freshman UC duo of Jake Magill and Krish Patel won convincingly 6-2 at #3 doubles. Unfortunately, the top two doubles teams both lost close matches.
In singles, the Golden Eagles faired much better. Frantisek Pirek at #3 singles and Magill at #4 singles quickly notched convincing wins to put UC up 2-1. Mercyhurst evened the match at 2-2 with a win at #2 singles. With the match tied at 2-2, Alex Martinez and Lennert Stevenscame out very strong at 5th and 6th singles both winning in straight sets to put the match out of reach at 4-2. Although John Giesberts lost in a third set tie-breaker, the match was already secured.
With the win, Coach Sam Clarke stated, "I am proud of the boys turning it around in singles after losing the doubles point." When discussing regional wins and NCAA berth's, Coach Matt Santen statted how thrilled he was after today, saying, "This was a big win for us in a key regional match up. It puts us well on our way to achieve our goal of making the NCAA tournament"
Many members of the team also noted how great the support of the Men's Volleyball team was in the win today. "They were like our 7th man", stated Head Coach Matt Santen
Doubles Results:
Akimpetide/ Jankovic (M) d. Giesberts / Pirek (UC) 6-4
Amilleta/ Sklyarov (M) d. Dagostine / Stevens (UC) 7-5
Magill/ Patel (UC) d. Plasheski/ Richards (M) 6-2
Singles Results:
David Akimpetide (M) d. John Giesberts (UC) 7-6, 2-6, 7-6
Unai Amilleta (M) d. Marshall Dagostine (UC) 6-2, 6-3
Frantisek Pirek (UC) d. Milan Jankovic (M) 6-3, 6-1
Jake Magill (UC) d. Hristo Plasheski (M) 6-3, 6-1
Alex Martinez (UC) d . Arseniy Sklyarov(M) 6-1, ret
Lennert Stevens (UC) d. Eli Dykema (M) 6-1, 6-0
