Bulldogs bounce back from southern road trip, beat Presbyterian, 4-3
SMITHFIELD, R.I. – After falling, 4-0, to No. 55 South Carolina and No. 32 North Carolina State, the Bryant University men's tennis team bounced back on Monday, defeating Presbyterian, 4-3.
In their first contest of the weekend, the Bulldogs (3-5) took on the Gamecocks (5-4), losing 4-0 to the then No. 55 ranked team in the nation. The Gamecocks took the doubles' point, winning two of the matches with the third going unfinished. No. 116 Alex Fennell defeated senior Max Vogt (Fair Oaks, Calif.), 6-1, 6-3, in the first singles match of the day. Junior Oliver Welsh (San Diego, Calif.) faced another nationally-ranked Gamecock, falling to No. 65 ranked Harrison O'Keefe, 6-0, 6-2. South Carolina's Thomas Mayronne found the Gamecocks' final point, defeating freshman Artur Jakubowski (Dallas, Texas), 6-1, 6-1, while the remaining single matches went unfinished or had no result.
When facing the Wolfpack (5-2), the Bulldogs came up empty, 4-0, as three matchups went unfinished. The Wolfpack earned the doubles' point, winning two of the three matchups. Sophomores Josh Kliger (Newport Beach, Calif.) and Jorge Ortiz-Garcia (Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico) edged out Igor Saveljic and Ivan Saveljic, 6-4. The duo of Simon Norenius and Nick Horton managed the largest doubles margin, 6-0, over Vogt and sophomore Luke Lorenz (Colorado Springs, Colo.). North Carolina State captured its remaining three points in singles play, with Horton defeating Vogt, 6-2, 6-2, Simon Norenius beating Welsh, 6-2, 6-1, and Thomas Weigel overcoming Lorenz, 6-2, 6-4.
"It's always a great experience to play down south," said head coach Ron Gendron. "The level of play and competitive atmosphere is what we are looking for in order to gain experience at the highest level".
Monday saw a different outcome for the Bulldogs, as they played their way past the Blue Hose (1-7), 4-3. In a unique format, the two teams played two doubles matches and five singles, with each matchup win counting as a point. The Bulldogs won both doubles' points, as the duo of Lorenz and Vogt defeated Joel Roberts and Will Baird, 6-2, 1-6, 6-4, while Ortiz-Garcia and Kliger took down Presbyterians' Steven Weaver and P.H. Broyhill, 6-1, 6-2.
The Bulldogs won 2-of-5 singles matches, as freshman Michael Plutt (Weston, Fla.) moved past Diego Manzanas, 7-6, 6-4, and Jakubowski beat Ben Kelley in similar fashion, 6-4, 7-6. Welsh put up a strong fight against Danny Bruce, losing, 6-2, 7-5, as did senior Richard Sipala (Quogue, N.Y.), before he was defeated by Brandon Mills, 7-6, 6-1.
"We are very pleased to scrap with a solid team in Presbyterian and come out a win," said Gendron.
"February is going to be a challenging month with matches against MIT, Harvard, Yale and Brown, but we are looking forward to the battles". The Bulldogs return to action on Friday, February 19, when they travel to Cambridge, Mass. to take on MIT at 4 p.m.