By John Geilfuss

The Pride men’s tennis team knew it had a tough challenge last Sunday when it made the trip to Rhode Island to take on the No. 49 Bears of Brown.

However, the match turned into a disappointing upset as the more experienced and more talented Brown squad marched their way to 7-0 victory. The Bears began the afternoon by sweeping the Pride in all three of the doubles matches. The Pride’s top doubles team of Nikola Djordjevic and Rodrigo Teixeira fell to Bear seniors Ben Brier and Jaime Cerretani 8-2. The closest match was at the third doubles as the Pride’s Jared Coggan and Robert Sforozo fell to sophomores Zach Pransen and Phillip Charm of the Bears 8-3. Michael Bosch and Matt Schor also fell in doubles play by the score of 8-1.

All six of the Pride’s single matches ended in straight sweeps for Brown. Djordjevic suffered his first loss since Oct. 19 of last year as he fell to Cerretani by scores of 6-1 and 6-3, respectively. Sophomore Bosch had the closest match of the day at fourth singles as he fell to Charm 6-2 and 6-4.

The Pride hope to rebound when it travels to Fairfield this weekend. Djordjevic expects the loss at Brown to help the Pride prepare for the match against Fairfield. “Sometimes in order to win you must lose. If you learn from your mistakes you will improve yourself in the future,” said the sophomore standout. The Stags are currently 3-3 on the young season, with a 5-2 loss coming against Vermont. Vermont defeated the Pride earlier in the season by the score of 4-3.

The women’s team will also make the trip to Fairfield. The lady Stags are off to a strong start on the season with five wins against only one loss. This will be the first match for the women in nearly a month following their tough 7-0 loss to Vermont. The match against Fairfield should be a tough one for the women, as the Stags defeated Vermont 5-2 just a week ago.