Newbury Edges Men's Tennis 5-4
NEW LONDON, Conn. – Newbury College picked up a 5-4 win over Mitchell College in New England Collegiate Conference men's tennis action on Wednesday afternoon at the Mitchell Tennis Courts.
With the match tied at 4-4, the Nighthawks pulled out the victory when Wayne Gethers defeated Michael Berman in the final singles match left on the court. The two battled at the No. 4 spot in what was the closest match of the day, as Gethers took the first set in a tiebreaker before Berman bounced back to win the second. In the deciding third set, it was Gethers who posted a 7-5 win to earn the decisive point for his squad.
Newbury held a 2-1 lead after the doubles portion as Christian Repunte and Joey Verdon won 8-3 at the top spot and Antonios Tran and Gethers won 8-3 at No. 2. Mitchell's No. 3 pairing of Chris McKeon and Anthony Drake salvaged a point with a dominant 8-0 win to close out doubles.
The Nighthawks also won at the top two singles positions behind the play of Tran and Repunte. Tran won in straight sets against Adam Diaz while Repunte dropped only one game against Graham Cavanaugh.
Mitchell fought its way back into the match as Orson Sinclair earned a 6-4, 6-1 win over Verdon at No. 3. Michael Edwards and McKeon also cruised to wins at the No. 5 and 6 spots, respectively, to even the match at 4-4.
Mitchell (4-3 overall, 3-2 NECC) will next play at Regis College on Thursday, April 16 at 4:30 p.m. Newbury (2-4 overall, 1-4 NECC) returns to action on Thursday as well and will host Wheelock College at Salem State University at 7 p.m.