Flushing, N.Y. – Matej Selecky rallied to win at first singles to give third-seeded NYIT a 5-4 come-from-behind victory over the sixth-seeded Le Moyne College men's tennis team on Monday afternoon in the first round of the NCAA Championships at the Queens College Tennis Center.
The Dolphins, who defeated the Bears, 5-4, in DeWitt on April 8, opened the match by sweeping the doubles competition. At the second position, junior
Andres Hernandez (Monterrey, Mexico/Laurel Springs/Texas Rio Grande Valley) and senior
Jason Barton (Lima, Ohio/Shawnee) registered an 8-3 win over Selecky and Maxton Cook. Juniors
Xavier Graells (Castellar del Vallès, Spain/IES Castellar/Harford Community College) and
Tyler Underwood (Minoa, N.Y./East Syracuse-Minoa) were victorious at the third spot, 8-5, over Jean Kehyayan and Sergio Fernandez. Sophomore
Philip Blythe (Edinburgh, Scotland/Merchiston) and senior
Hallam Doney (Andover, Hampshire/Peter Symonds) completed the sweep with an 8-6 win at the first position over Rares Ispas and Francisco Caldas. Barton, Hernandez and Doney all finish the season with 18 doubles victories, the most by a Dolphin over the last 13 years.
The Bears rallied for the victory by winning five of the six matches in the singles competition. The rally started at the second position as Caldas defeated Hernandez with consecutive scores of 6-2. Fernandez was also victorious with back-to-back scores of 6-2 at the fifth spot against Doney.
Barton got the Dolphins to the brink of victory by registering a 6-3, 6-3 victory at the fourth position over Cook. The victory marked the 40th of Barton's career, which ties him with Doney for the second-most by a Dolphin over the last 13 years. It was also Barton's 15th of the season, which ties him with Hernandez for the most over the last 13 seasons.
Ispas kept the Bears in the match by handing Graells a 6-4, 6-3 loss at the third spot. Kevin Huynh evened the match at four apiece with a 6-3, 7-5 victory over freshman
Christian Erickson (Fairport, N.Y./Fairport) at the sixth position.
Selecky dropped the first set to Blythe, 6-4, but recorded a 6-4 win of his own in the second set to force a decisive third set to determine the point and which team advanced to the second round. Selecky, who has won the last two ITA East Region championships, captured the point by taking the third set, 6-2.
Le Moyne, which earned its first-ever NCAA Championships berth, finishes the season with an overall record of 13-6, which included a 10-match win streak.
