VERONA, N.Y. – The Marist men's tennis team showed impressive strides in the young season but fell to the Binghamton Bearcats, 4-3, Saturday afternoon at the Turning Stone Casino.
The Red Foxes pulled out two of the three doubles matches on the day with wins by the team of junior Joe Motta (Staten Island, N.Y.) and junior Fredrik Bjerke (Oslo, Norway) over Binghamton's team of junior Sid Hazarika and senior Ismael Dinia, 6-4, while freshman Rudolf Kurz (Oberpullendorf, Austria) and senior captain Joseph Dube (Livonia, Mich.) teamed up to take down the Bearcats' combination of sophomore's Thomas Caputo and Vihar Shah, 6-2.
The usual steady team of freshman Justin Chanthalangsy (San Marcos, Calif.) and senior captain Matteo Giudici (Parma, Italy) lost 6-4 to senior Robin Lesage and junior Elliot Hureau of the Bearcats.
"What an excellent start for the second match in our season,” head coach Tim Smith said. “Could not be prouder of the way we played in doubles winning two out of the three matches and being very competitive at number two.”
In singles play the Red Foxes were only able to corral one win in the first four matches in the eventual 4-3 defeat but split the final two exhibition finishers. Kurz and Chanthalangsy notched singles victories for the Red Foxes.
“Special kudos to Joe Motta for his doubles play and Kurz and Bjerke for their singles play,” Smith said. “I look forward with anticipation to our match tomorrow against Bryant."
The Red Foxes return to action tomorrow as they take on Bryant in Verona, N.Y. at the Turning Stone Casino with matches at 10 A.M. and then head home for their first home match of the season against Georgetown on Saturday, Feb. 7.
Full Results
Doubles:
#1 Motta/Bjerke vs Hazarika/Dinia WON 6-4
#2 Chanthalangsy/Giudici vs Lesage/Hureau lost 6-4
#3 Kurz/Dube vs Caputo/Shah WON 6-2
Singles:
#1 Bjerke vs Hazarika lost 7-6(5)/3-6/6-0
#2 Kurz vs Lesage WON 2-6/6-2/6-4
#3 Dube vs Hureau lost 7-6(3)/6-2/6-1
#4 Tanzer vs Caputo lost 6-3/7-5/6-0
#5 Guidici vs Dinia lost 6-2/6-2
#6 Chanthalangsy vs Shah WON 6-1/6-2
