NEW YORK – The Marist men's tennis team fell to Ivy League's Columbia in its spring season opener on Monday, Jan. 20, 7-0. This was the first loss for Marist this year. The Red Foxes are now 2-1 overall and 1-0 in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC).
“This was a good tune-up match for us against a division I program that is ranked 42nd in the county,” said head men's tennis coach Tim Smith. “We had a very competitive match in 3rd doubles with Columbia's team eking out in an 8-5 decision. In singles play, Fredrik Bjerke lost in a second set tiebreaker in another excellent match.”
Columbia swept the tennis singles matches. Senior Lorenzo Rossi (Lugano, Switzerland) fell to Winston Lin, 6-0, 6-2. Senior captain Dalen Klassen (St. Louis, Mo.) was defeated by Max Schnur, 6-3, 6-2. Senior Will Reznek (Toronto, Canada) fell to Ashok Narayane, 6-2, 6-3. Junior Joseph Dube (Livonia, Mich.) was defeated by Bert Vancura, 6-3, 6-2. In the fifth singles match, sophomore Fredrik Bjerke (Oslo, Norway) played a riveting match against Mike Veermen, but fell in a second tiebreaker, 6-2, 6-5, 6. In his spring season debut, freshman Dylan Fletcher (Stow, Mass.) fell to Eric Rubin, 6-3, 6-0. In the final singles match, junior captain Matteo Giudici (Parma, Italy) fell to Christopher Grant, 6-5, 4.
Marist and the Lions competed in four doubles matches as well. The senior duo of Rossi and Reznek fell to Schnur and Narayane, 8-1. Klassen and Njerke were defeated by Lin and Veermen, 8-1. In a very close third doubles set, the Columbia combination of Vancura and Rubin barely squeezed by Giudici and Fletcher. In the final doubles match of the meeting, Dube and senior captain Jacob Solly (Sydney, Australia) were defeated by Columbia's Phan and Hadis 8-1.
Men's tennis resumes play on Wednesday, Feb. 5 at Saint Peter's. The match is set to begin at 3:30 p.m.
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