Bulldogs taken down by Yale and No. 23 Harvard

SMITHFIELD, R.I. – The Bryant University men's tennis team took on tough competition over the weekend, falling, 7-0, and, 4-1, at Yale, before being defeated, 7-0, against No. 23 Harvard.

In their first competition of the weekend, the Bulldogs (4-9) took on the Yale Bulldogs (7-4), who swept the Black and Gold across the board in the first outing. In the No. 1 singles spot, sophomore Luke Lorenz (Colorado Springs, Colo.) battled hard, but was ultimately handed a 6-1, 6-4 loss by Ziqi Wang. Freshman Artur Jakubowski (Dallas, Texas) forced Dennis Wang into a 7-6, 6-2 finish in Yale's favor. Bryant's No. 1 doubles team of sophomore Nick Lamart (Raleigh, N.C.) and freshman Michael Plutt (Weston, Fla.) was taken down by Fedor Andienko and Stefon Doehler in a close one, 7-6.

In the second go-around of the doubleheader, the Yale Bulldogs moved past Bryant, 4-1, with the Black and Gold's only point coming off junior Corey DiPaola's (Lincoln, R.I.) No. 4 singles win over James Ratchford, 6-1, 7-5. The Yale duo of Dennis Wang and Nathan Brown edged out Bryant's twosome of Jakubowski and junior Oliver Welsh (San Diego, Calif.), 7-6.

On Sunday, the Bulldogs took on No. 23 Crimson (9-6), where they were held scoreless, 7-0. Jakubowski forced his match against Xavier Gonzalez into three sets, before falling, 2-6, 6-1, 6-2, in the No. 5 singles slot. Following suit, Lamart was defeated in three games, 6-3, 4-6, 10-5, by Michael Peters in the No. 6 singles match. The pair of Plutt and Lamart came up with the only Bryant victory, trumping Peters and Kenny Tao, 7-5, in the No. 1 doubles slot, but the Crimson took the point, winning the next two matchups.

Next, the Bulldogs head to the Golden State to play in four matches at the La Jolla Invitational, beginning on Thursday, March 3.