Liverpool, N.Y. – The Le Moyne College men's tennis team recorded its second straight victory over Merrimack College, 5-2, on Sunday afternoon in Northeast Conference action at Elevate Fitness.
Le Moyne, which won a conference match against the Warriors for the first time since September 17, 2005, snapping a 13-match conference losing streak, took a 1-0 lead on the afternoon by winning the first two matches to finish in the doubles competition. At the third position, graduate students
Kacper Piekarek (Wroclaw, Poland/Autorskrie Licea Artystyczne Akademickie/Missouri-Kansas City) and
Rodrigo Beires (Porto, Portugal/Agrupamento de Escolas Garcia de Orta/Universidade Portucalense) registered a 6-1 win over Henrik Lindeman and Jack Brimm. Graduate students
Leon Grundstroem (Hoganas, Sweden/Filborna Gymnasium/Northwood) and
Alvaro Nunez (Jerez De La Frontera, Spain/IES Padre Luis Coloma/Southwest Baptist) clinched the point with a 6-4 victory at the top spot over Aryaan Bhatia and Jacob Dubas. Junior
Peter Hatton (Syracuse, N.Y./Jamesville-DeWitt/Club Med Academics/Army West Point) and graduate student
Luka Stojanovic (Paracin, Serbia/Kosta Cukic/University of Incarnate Word/Lipscomb) were leading Charles Robertson and Valentin Riveros at the second position, 5-2, when the point was clinched.
The Dolphins captured the point in four of the six matches in the singles competition. Hatton earned his team-best sixth NEC victory of the year with scores of 6-4 and 7-5 over Bhatia at the top spot. Nunez collected his 10th win of the dual match schedule, 6-4, 6-2, at the third position over Lindeman. Dubas got the Warriors on the scoreboard by rallying for a 0-6, 6-3, 6-2 win over Grundstroem at the second spot. Piekarek clinched the match by rallying for a 6-7 (3-7), 6-2, 6-3 victory at the fourth position over Robertson. Sadhista Linga recorded a 6-4, 6-7 (5-7), 10-8 win at the sixth spot over junior
Xavier Branagan (Wollstonecraft, Australia/St. Aloysius' College). Stojanovic collected the final point by rallying to defeat Riveros at the fifth position, 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (8-6).
Le Moyne (8-9, 3-4 NEC), which honored Beires, Grundstroem, Nunez and Stojanovic prior to the match for their contributions to the program, is back on the courts on Friday at Daemen University at 12:00 p.m.