Men’s tennis wins fifth straight to open season

Men’s tennis added two more wins last week to extend their season-opening win streak to five matches, with victories over the University of Pennsylvania and Dayton University.

Penn

Sophomore Javier Amantegui and junior Arvid Noren teamed up to take the opening half of the doubles point from the Quakers, winning 6-4 at No. 2 doubles, while freshmen Inigo Torre Martin and Timo Zgraggen paired up to secure the point.

Noren swept his singles match, but Penn rebounded with wins at No. 4 and No. 1 singles. Amantegui had secured the lead in his singles match, but his opponent was removed from the match due to illness. Zgraggen then clinched the win for VCU, winning in a third-set tiebreak at No. 5 singles to take the overall match.

Dayton

VCU overcame a looming deficit against the Dayton Flyers to earn a dramatic comeback win on Friday.

Dayton opened matching VCU serve for serve, taking tightly-contested doubles points on two different courts. Noren and Amantegui again paired up to take a doubles win on court two, but Vitor Lime and Philip Mobius, both juniors for the Black and Gold, were unable to overcome a tiebreaker on court one.

Dayton also took straight-set wins at No. 1 and No. 2 singles, extending their advantage over the Rams to 3-0. However, Noren and Mobius won in three sets at No. 3 and No. 4 singles, respectively, and this pulled the Black and Gold to within one point.

Noren dominated his first set and, although he bowed to his Flyer opponent in the second set, rallied to take a tightly contested third-set point. Mobius’s loss in the first set of his singles match only served to heighten his momentum, as he took two-thirds of the last 18 games to add that point to VCU’s overall total.

Zgraggen continued the Black and Gold rally, tying the overall match at No. 5 singles with a dominant sweep against his opponent. Torre Martin’s crucial role in the finale of No. 6 singles proved to be the final nail in the coffin for the Flyers, as he won a do-or-die breakpoint on deuce for a 4-3 second set advantage.

Torre Martin then became the hero as he clinched VCU’s match win, with the Black and Gold rallying from 3-0 to win 4-3 for the overall match.

Men’s tennis’ match against the University of Richmond Wednesday has been postponed. The Black and Gold will return to action Saturday at home against East Tennessee State University at 10 a.m.

Adam Cheek,Contributing writer