Bulldogs pick up two wins over weekend

SMITHFIELD, R.I. – The Bryant University men's tennis team picked up a pair of huge victories over the weekend, topping both Niagara and Colgate, 5-2, Saturday afternoon in Verona, N.Y.

It took over nine hours of hard-fought tennis but the Bulldogs escaped with a pair of quality road victories to close out the month of February.

In the early match vs. Colgate, the Black and Gold took an early lead by a pair of strong doubles' performances from Dana Parziale (Pinehurst, N.C.) and Ernesto Arguello (Managua, Nicaragua) at the no. 1 spot and freshman tandem John Templemen (Midland, Mich.) and Oliver Welsh (San Diego, Calif.) in the no. 3 position.

The doubles momentum carried over to singles play where Bryant's top four took care of business in convincing fashion. Parziale defeated Luke Gensburg, 7-5, 6-4, at no. 1 singles, while junior Zachary Morris (Garden City, N.Y.), took down Bobby Berkowtiz, 6-0, 6-4, in the second spot. Welsh and Arguello were also impressive, winning the third and fourth singles spots, respectively, to propel Bryant to the 5-2 victory over the Raiders.

In the second leg of the doubleheader vs. Niagara, the Black and Gold found themselves down early after dropping the doubles point, but in true Bulldog fashion, battled back to win four-straight singles matches to clinch the eventual 5-2 victory.

Parziale and Arguello each picked up a perfect 4-0 day with wins in the first and fourth singles positions, respectively, while Morris defeated David Raymond at the no. 2 spot in straight sets, 6-1, 6-2. Welsh was victories over Olivier Dufour-Coursel, 7-6, 5-6, 6-3, at the no. 3 position and junior Joshua Rubinstein (Trumbull, Conn.) rounded out the Bryant wins with a 2-6, 6-4, 10-7 epic battle with Mathiew Lacasse.

"This was a great test," said head coach Ron Gendron. "We went to central New York without two of our top guys (Max Vogt, Christian Duarte) and came away with a pair of quality wins."

"Our depth has been solid all season and it really showed on Saturday as we looked fresher than ever even after nine hours of grueling play."

Despite the impressive showing, the road does not get any easier for the Bulldogs as they prepare for Marist and Lehigh on Sunday in Bethlehem, Pa.

For all the latest news on the Bryant University men's tennis team, visit BryantBulldogs.com.