ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The Roberts Wesleyan men's tennis team lost a thrilling match to Merrimack on Saturday, 5-4. Freshman
Harmeet Luthra fought hard right until the last point, but was edged by Merrimack's Tyler Clontz at fifth singles 10-7 in a third set tiebreaker. After dropping the first set, Luthra fought back for a 6-3 second set win. With the match tied at 4, this set up the exciting tiebreak that decided the match.
"Harmeet played very cool under intense pressure," said head coach
Tom Linhart. "He represented us well."
The Redhawks jumped off to a 2-1 lead after the doubles portion of the match. Senior
Hugo Ball-Greene and sophomore
Dennis Barlotta took an 8-5 win at first doubles, and senior
Jose Carrillo and freshman
Guido Janssen won 8-7 at third doubles.
In singles action, Merrimack's Denis Davydov and Mikhail Belov won at second and first singles respectively. The Redhawks tied the match when Janssen defeated Frank Vega 7-5, 6-1 at third singles.
Merrimack regained the lead at 4-3 when Merrimack's Alex Federico won in straight sets at fourth singles, but the Redhawks rallied again as Carrillo tied the match with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Paul Weidinger at sixth singles. This set up the deciding action at 5
th singles.
"This was a hard fought, hotly contested tennis match between two talented teams," Linhart said. "We knew it would be close and the match lived up to our expectations."
The Redhawks (4-2) are off until March 6
th when they travel to Erie Pa. to play Atlantic Division powerhouse Edinboro University.
