Bulldogs fall to Dartmouth and Buffalo in opening weekend

SMITHFIELD, R.I. – In the opening weekend of the spring season, the Bryant University men's tennis team fell to host school No. 42 Dartmouth, 7-0, and Buffalo, 5-2, in Hanover, N.H.

The Bulldogs were swept by the Big Green, losing all three doubles matches, before coming up scoreless in singles. The Dartmouth pair of Wall and Flienger defeated senior Max Vogt (Fair Oaks, Calif.) and sophomore Luke Lorenz (Colorado Springs, Colo.), 6-2. Bryant's duo of freshman Scott Plutt (Weston, Fla.) and junior Oliver Welsh (San Diego, Calif.) were taken down, 6-2, by Tannenbaum and Schmidt, while Bulldogs, Artur Jakubowski (Dallas, TX) and Jorge Ortiz-Garcia (Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico) were defeated by the Dartmouth team of Glasnovic and Haig, 6-4.

In singles play, Jakubowski and Ortiz-Garcia put up the biggest fights, each forcing their matches into a third set against the Big Green. Jakubowski was defeated by Agarwal, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (4), while Ortiz-Garcia fell to Midgley, 3-6, 6-3, 7-5.

"Dartmouth took a commanding lead in doubles and with the exception of a few spots, we clearly were outplayed by the No. 42 team in the country," said head coach Ron Gendron.

In the second contest of the weekend, the Black and Gold battled Buffalo to a 5-2 finish, with Jakubowski and Ortiz-Garcia finding the Bulldogs' two points. Jakubowski defeated Mehta in two games, winning, 6-4, 6-4. Ortiz-Garcia found Bryant's second point, beating Culicovschi in three games, 4-6, 7-5, 10-6. Lorenz and freshman Michael Plutt (Weston, Fl.) both forced their competitors into a third game, before Lorenz fell to Nittolo, 1-6, 6-3, 6-4, and Plutt to Arevalilo7-6, 4-6, 10-5.

The twosome of Jakubowski and sophomore Nick Lamart (Raleigh, N.C.) found the only win in doubles play, beating Hajdu-Andersson and Mehta, 6-2.

"Against Buffalo we were far more competitive, taking one doubles point," said Gendron. "In singles, we were out-coached, falling to a potentially nationally ranked Buffalo, 5-2."

"This weekend we were outcoached and outplayed by two very good teams. It's always a pleasure playing both teams early on though, to give us a good sense of where we need to be in order to defend our Northeast Conference title."