POUGHKEEPSIE, New York – The Marist men's tennis team dropped their second to last match of the season, 7-0, to the Monmouth Hawks Wednesday afternoon at the Marist Tennis Pavilion. The Red Foxes first loss in conference play snaps their seven match win streak and moves the team to 13-4 overall and 5-1 in league action.
The doubles point seemed to set the tone for the match as Monmouth was able to claw their way to a hard fought victory winning from the first and second doubles positions.
The Hawk's Przemyslaw Filipek and Nicoloa Pipoli defeated Justin Chanthalangsy and Jan Dernic, 6-2 at the one spot. Joe Motta and Fredrik Bjerke battled at the second spot to level the doubles matches at one each with a 7-5 win over Monmouth's Christian Viera and Alberto Giuffrida.
At the second doubles position Monmouth was able to tough out a victory over Rudolf Kurz and Dylan Fletcher but not before the match reached a seven point tie breaking scenario.
With the doubles point secured, the Hawks brought with them the momentum and confidence into singles play. Pipoli defeated Bjerke, 6-3, 6-2 and Vieira defeated Dernic, 6-2, 6-2.
Marist wouldn't fold easily however as they extended three of the four other matches on the court to third sets before Monmouth clinched from the first singles position.
In a back a forth battle between Monmouth's Vaghela Vidit and Kurz, Vidit took the first set and then was able to squeak out the victory in the second set tiebreaker and win 6-3, 7-6 (7-4), before Kurz could extend the match.
Chanthalangsy, Tanzer, and Fletcher all brought their matches into the third sets but eventually fell after the Hawks had clinched the overall match victory.
“We would've loved to have won the doubles point to get things started but I think today they just played better than we did,” said head coach Tim Smith. “I do recall last year that they had beat us and then we came back and beat them but this is a different team with a different coach and he had his player's competing at a high level. We look forward to our last match of the season and then the tournament.”
The Red Foxes hit the road for their final match of the season on Saturday, April 23rd at 11 a.m. in a match against the Rider Broncs that was previously postponed due to weather. After their season finale the Red Foxes will await their seed in the MAAC tournament and play again on Saturday, April 30th.
Full Results
Doubles
1. Filipek, Przemyslaw/Pipoli, Nicola (MU-M) def. Justin Chanthalangsy/Jan Dernic (MARM) 6-2
2. Gomez Estrada, Ale/Vaghela, Vidit (MU-M) def. Rudolf Kurz/Dylan Fletcher (MARM) 7-6 (7-5)
3. Joe Motta/Fredrik Bjerke (MARM) def. Vieira, Christian/Giuffrida, Alberto (MU-M) 7-5
Singles
1. Vaghela, Vidit (MU-M) def. Rudolf Kurz (MARM) 6-3, 7-6 (7-4)
2. Filipek, Przemyslaw (MU-M) def. Justin Chanthalangsy (MARM) 6-3, 6-7 (4-7), 6-3
3. Pipoli, Nicola (MU-M) def. Fredrik Bjerke (MARM) 6-3, 6-2
4. Gomez Estrada, Ale (MU-M) def. Timo Tanzer (MARM) 6-3, 6-7 (4-7), 6-0
5. Vieira, Christian (MU-M) def. Jan Dernic (MARM) 6-2, 6-2
6. Giuffrida, Alberto (MU-M) def. Dylan Fletcher (MARM) 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-3)
Match Notes:
Order of finish: Doubles (1,3,2); Singles (3,5,1,4,2,6)
