Syracuse, N.Y. – The Le Moyne College men's tennis team clinched the fifth seed in next week's Northeast-10 Conference Championships with a 7-2 victory over Assumption College in the regular season finale for both teams on Saturday afternoon at the Skytop Tennis Courts and Gold's Gym.
As the fifth seed, the Dolphins will visit fourth-seeded Bentley University in the NE10 Championships first round on Tuesday at 2:00 p.m. The Dolphins and Falcons tied for fourth place in the conference standings, but the Falcons won the regular season meeting against the Dolphins last Saturday, 6-3.
The Dolphins jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the match by sweeping the doubles competition. At the top position, freshman
Philip Blythe (Edinburgh, Scotland/Merchiston) and junior
Hallam Doney (Andover, Hampshire/Peter Symonds) edged Chris Waung and Marco Leung, 9-8, after taking the tiebreaker, 7-4. Seniors
James Gayvert (Fairport, N.Y./Fairport) and
Benjamin Spoor (Ballston Spa, N.Y./Ballston Spa) won at the second spot against Ryan Foster and Danny Waung, 8-3. Senior
Steven Procopio (Jamesville, N.Y./Jamesville-DeWitt) and sophomore
Tyler Underwood (Minoa, N.Y./East Syracuse-Minoa) won by default at the third spot due to Assumption being unable to complete its lineup.
In the singles competition, Spoor won by default at sixth singles to give the Dolphins a 4-0 lead in the match. Blythe clinched the victory for the Dolphins by registering a 6-2, 7-5 win over Chris Waung at the first position. Gayvert earned the team's sixth point by taking the first set at the second position, 6-4, before Foster retired. Junior
Jason Barton (Lima, Ohio/Shawnee) closed out the afternoon by improving to 8-0 in conference action with a 6-3, 2-6, 7-6 (7-3) win at the fourth position against Danny Waung. Leung earned Assumption's first point with back-to-back scores of 6-3 against freshman
Josh Sagaille (Schenectady, N.Y./Justine Henin Academy (Belgium)) at the third spot. Knight recorded a 7-5, 2-7, 6-4 win at the fifth position against Procopio.
Prior to the match, the senior class of Gayvert, Procopio and Spoor were honored by the Dolphin Athletic Association for their contributions to the program, which now includes three straight NE10 Championships berths.