April 13, 2010

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POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. - The Marist men's tennis team took control of first place in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference on Tuesday, taking down the Fairfield Stags 7-0 in a battle of MAAC unbeatens at the East Campus Tennis Pavilion on Senior Day. Sophomore Matt Himmelsbach (Longmeadow, Mass.) clinched the win for the Red Foxes, as his 6-4, 6-4 win at fourth singles won the fourth point of the match for Marist. Overall, Marist won eight of the nine matches on the day.

Prior to the match, seniors Michael Land (Kingwood, Texas), Christian Coley (Glastonbury, Conn.), and Nicolas Pisecky (Lausanne, Switzerland) at third doubles. The duo defeated Bob Kelly and Mark Kremheller 8-2, also winning six of the first seven games.

Marist (9-5, 5-0 MAAC) then got off to a hot start in singles play as Landon Greene (Palos Verde, Calif.) defeated Kelly 6-0, 6-0 at fifth singles for the Red Foxes' second point of the day. Junior Marcus von Nordheim (Munich, Germany) followed with a dominant 6-2, 6-0 win over Mike Lessing at sixth singles. The top-four singles matches were more competitive. Himmelsbach took the first set of his match 6-4 against Erik Kremheller. He then trailed 3-4 in the second set before breaking Kremheller to even the set 4-4 before winning the set 6-4, giving Marist its fourth and deciding point.

Coley and Pisecky also won their singles matches in straight sets. The senior won at first singles 7-5, 6-3 over Joe Michalisin. Coley broke Michalsin to reach 6-5 in the first set and served it out for the 7-5 win. Pisecky defeated Ferrante 6-2, 6-4. Sessagesimi won the first set of his match against Berthod 6-2, overcoming an early 2-1 deficit. After dropping the second set 2-6, the senior won the third set 6-3 as the Red Foxes swept the singles matches.

"The score was not really indicative of what would be ahead for us in the MAAC Tournament if we play Fairfield," said head coach Tim Smith. "Fairfield was without its number 1 player due to injury."

Marist has won its last six dual matches. The Red Foxes will return to action on Friday, April 16 with a 1 p.m. match at Connecticut.