Morris dazzles in big weekend for men's tennis

SMITHFIELD, R.I. – Behind a dominating performance from senior Zachary Morris (Garden City, N.Y.), the Bryant University men's tennis team captured five of nine flights, including three doubles flights, at the Brown Invitational over the weekend.

Morris, who is yet to lose a match in singles competition this season, went a perfect 7-0 over the weekend to capture both the No. 1 singles and doubles flights against some of the region's best competition.

In single's play, Morris ran through Mikhail Belov (Merrimack), 6-0, 6-1, Jacob Spreyer (UConn), 6-3, 6-4), and Lucas De Silveira, 6-2, 6-3, to coast to the flight finals. On the other side of the bracket, sophomore Oliver Welsh (San Diego, Calif.) continued his strong play as well, racking up wins over Noah Bragg (Bowdoin), 6-1, 6-4, Justin To (Brown), and Bryant's freshman phenom Matt Kuhar (Smithfield, R.I.), setting up an all-Black and Gold final.

In the finals, Morris took down Welsh, 6-1, 6-2, snapping the sophomore's win streak at six games, while upping his own to a perfect 7-0 through the first two weekends of competition. In all, Bryant won nine Flight A matches and delivered three of the four semifinalists.

"To dominate the A Flight, putting 3 guys in semifinal and two in final was amazing," said Bryant head coach Ron Gendron. "To win the A Flight two years in a row with a senior captain stepping up just shows how much harder we work in the off season then others in our region. It's very encouraging to see our seniors improve year after year rather than mail it in, truly validating all we do."

Senior Joshua Rubinstein (Trumbull, Conn.) was equally impressive, advancing to the No. 4 Flight final, pushing BU's Jake De Vries to three sets in the flight championship, while sophomore John Templeman (Midland, Mich.) went a perfect 4-0 to win the Round Robin flight.

In doubles competition, Morris and partner Max Vogt (Fair Oaks, Calif.) ran through a trio of parings to take the No. 1 doubles flight with an 8-3 victory over Jacob Spreyer/Chris Tonner from UConn. In the No. 2 doubles flight, Kuhar and senior Ernesto Arguello (Managua, Nicaragua) ran the table, picking the flight victory, with Rubinstein and partner Luke Lorenz (Colorado Springs, Colo.) following suit in the No. 4 flight. The flight victories for Kuhar and Lorenz marked the first of their young Bulldog careers.

"After an average outing in doubles in week one, it was great to see four Bryant teams in doubles finals and to take three could not make me happier," added Gendron. "Our seniors led all the way, with Zach [Morris] stepping up as our top dog and Arugello and Rubinstein displaying true senior leadership."

After a break this upcoming weekend, the Bulldogs will return to the courts on Sept. 26-28 in Storrs, Conn., for the UConn Invitational.

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