WEST WINDSOR, New Jersey – The Marist men's tennis team was defeated by the Monmouth Hawks in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Championship game Sunday afternoon. The loss ends the Red Foxes season as their pursuit for a 13th conference title comes up just short.
“Overall a very good weekend and I thought the guys competed well today although the outcome didn't show in some of their efforts,” said head coach Tim Smith. “We were ahead at third singles and ready to split at fourth singles but playing slightly undermanned with Chris out I felt that today we just didn't have enough.”
In the hotly contested doubles matches, Monmouth was able to strike first winning at first singles. Przemyslaw Filipek and Ale Gomez Estrada defeated Justin Chanthalangsy and Dylan Fletcher 6-2, taking an early lead.
The team of Rudolf Kurz and Paulo Siracusa helped the Red Foxes bounce back, winning at the third doubles spot, 6-2, over Christian Viera and Vikrant Dahiya.
The doubles point would come down to the second doubles position and a tiebreak. After being knotted at 6-6, Monmouth's Nicola Pipoli and Alberto Giuffrida claimed the crucial doubles point with a 7-3 win in the tiebreak.
The two teams headed to singles where Fletcher quickly tied the overall match score at 1-1, defeating Giuffrida in straight sets, 6-3, 6-2. Pipoli then swung the match back in Monmouth's favor defeating Restrepo at the no. 1 position, 6-2, 6-2.
Mounmouth would take a 3-1 overall match lead when Sergio Martinez defeated Lars Schouten, 6-4, 6-1. With the Red Foxes leading in third singles and with fourth singles headed to a third set, Marist looked to hop right back into the match but a win at second singles for Monmouth would clinch the victory before the match could be extended.
“Dylan certainly ended his career at Marist on a high note,” said Smith “We're already looking forward to next season with 11 of our 12 players back including our top five.”
Marist concludes a terrific overall season at 17-4 and 6-1 in MAAC play. The Red Foxes 16 wins overall included a dominant stretch of 11 straight wins. Today's match was the last in the career of Fletcher, who finishes his career as part of the exclusive Marist 100 win club along with making an All-MAAC team for three of his four years at Marist.
#2 Marist vs #1 Monmouth
SINGLES
#1 Nicola Pipoli (MONM) def. Javier Restrepo (MARM) 6-2, 6-2
#2 Przemyslaw Filipek (MONM) def. Rudolf Kurz (MARM) 7-6 (4), 6-4
#3 Gianlucca Massa (MARM) v. Ale Gomez Estrada (MONM) 6-7, 6-2, 5-3 unf.
#4 Justin Chanthalangsy (MARM) v. Christian Vieira (MONM) 7-6 (4), 6-5 unf.
#5 Dylan Fletcher (MARM) def. Alberto Giuffrida (MONM) 6-3, 6-2
#6 Sergio Martinez (MONM) def. Lars Schouten (MARM) 6-4, 6-1
Order of finish: (5, 1, 6, 4)
DOUBLES
#1 Filipek/Gomez Estrada (MONM) def. Chanthalangsy/Fletcher (MARM) 6-2
#2 Pipoli/Giuffrida (MONM) def. Restrepo/Massa (MARM) 7-6 (7-3)
#3 Kurz/Siracusa (MARM) def. Dahiya/Viera (MONM) 6-2
Order of finish: (1, 3, 2)
