Men’s Tennis Clipped by Unbeaten Gordon, 5-4
WENHAM, Mass.- The Eastern Nazarene College men's tennis team dropped a narrow 5-4 decision at Gordon Wednesday evening at the Bass River Tennis Club.
The Lions dip to 5-4 on the year and 1-1 in the Commonwealth Coast Conference. The Fighting Scots remain undefeated as they improve to 9-0 overall and 2-0 in league action.
Eastern Nazarene claimed one doubles victory as it faced a 2-1 deficit heading into singles play.
The visitors' lone doubles win came at the No. 3 slot as Davis Steelman (Darlington, Md.) and Andres Biondi (Barquisimeto, Venezuela) edged James Hawn and Joe Daugherty 8-6.
Sam Son (Wilbraham, Mass.) and Vladislav Tolmachev (Perm, Russia) fell to Zach Hall and Mason Casady 8-4 at the top position. Sam McKay-Corkum (Rehoboth, Mass.) and Tyler Perron (Plympton, Mass.) suffered an 8-6 setback to Michael D'Antuono and Peter Godwin in the No. 2 doubles match.
The Lions netted a pair of singles wins at the third and fifth spots to grab a 3-2 edge. McKay-Corkum downed D'Antuono at the No. 3 position 6-0, 6-1 and Steelman posted a 6-2, 6-1 win at the No. 5 position against Godwin.
Gordon regained the lead with two victories at the top two singles positions, 4-3. Tolmachev dropped a 6-1, 6-4 decision to Hall at the No. 1 spot and Son fell to Casady 6-3, 6-3 in the No. 2 singles match.
The two squads split the final two singles points as the home team escaped to lock up their second conference win of the season and remain unbeaten.
Perron rallied back from dropping the first set 6-3 to capture the second frame 6-3 before topping Daugherty 10-5 in a third-set super-tiebreaker at the sixth slot.
Kevin Paterno (Buenos Aires, Argentina) endured a narrow 11-9 loss in a third-set super-tiebreaker to Hawn at the No. 4 spot. Paterno conceded the first set 7-6 after falling in a tiebreaker 7-3 and bounced back to prevail in the second set 6-3.
Looking ahead, Eastern Nazarene is slated to host Salve Regina April 8 in the first home match of the spring season.