By John Geilfuss
The men’s tennis team topped the .500 mark for the first time this season with an impressive victory against the Greyhounds of Loyola College (MD).
The men swept the Greyhounds in doubles and in singles to capture a 7-0 victory to improve to 3-2.
The match ended quickly as the Pride began the day winning all six of its singles matches to secure the triumph. All six of the Pride’s singles competitors won in straight sets with most of the victories coming by a large margin.
Nikola Djordjevic, the Pride’s top singles player, defeated Loyola’s Nick Bowers (6-0, 6-0) to improve to 4-1 on the spring season.
At second singles, sophomore Michael Bosch topped junior Dan Schiemel (6-1, 6-3). Bosch said, ” The win was good for the team and we all played pretty good.” Classmate Matt Schor followed up Bosch’s strong performance with one of his own as he defeated Greyhound senior Jon Falcicho (6-1, 6-0).
Junior Rodrigo Teixeira and sophomores Robert Sforzo and Mario Hulch are defeated their opponents in consecutive sets to secure the shutout at singles play. It was the first win of the season for Hulch who was replacing Jared Coggan.
The Pride took the doubles point against the Greyhounds as it won two of the three double matches. The top doubles squad of Djordjevic and Schor defeated Loyola’s top duo of Bowers and Schiemel 8-6.
Bosch and Sforzo then secured the doubles point by topping Loyola’s Falcicho and John Curren 8-1. The Greyhounds then won their only match of the day as the pair of as Adam Wessinger and Bill Horne defeated the Pride’s Teixeira and Andres Neiman 8-6.
On the women’s side, the Pride wasn’t able to capture its first victory of the season falling to the Greyhounds 6-1. The loss dropped the team to 0-3 on the season.
The match started with the Pride dropping the doubles point to the Greyhounds by falling in all three of its matches.
The top duo of Vera Melezhik and Erika Reggiani fell to Loyola’s Carolyn Pilkinton and Caitlin Russo 8-4. Jill Spiritus and Adriana Segura fell to Amy Nitch and Jessica Liberatore 8-1.
The Pride was then swept in doubles play after the duo of Jillian Schalk and Mayo Hosoda fell to Gina Turturiello and Claire Najour 8-4.
In singles play, the Pride was once again dominated as the Greyhounds took home the victory in five of the six matches. Erika Reggiani was the only Pride player to earn a singles point at first singles when she topped Pilkington (6-2, 6-2).
The Greyhounds then cruised through the next five matches, winning them all with the closest match coming between the Pride’s Hosoda who fell (6-2, 6-2).
The Pride will return to action on Sunday, March 21, as it faces off against CAA opponent George Mason. This is the first conference match of the season for the Pride and it will be looking to get off to a strong start in conference play.
“This is our first conference game so there is some importance to it,” said Bosch. The men’s team hopes to win its third straight match while the women are hoping to defeat the Patriots for its first win of the season.