The UMBC men's tennis team improved to 4-1 on the season with a
pair of victories over America East foes this weekend. The
Retrievers blanked Hartford, 7-0, and edged Boston U., 5-2, in road
matches this weekend.
UMBC has won four consecutive matches.
"The men did a nice job this weekend and fought back under
difficult playing conditions in Boston to secure the win," head
coach Rob Hubbard said. "The doubles play was a strength
this time out as we won all doubles matches vs. our two
opponents."
Freshmen Daniel Gray
(Bowie, Md./The Bulls School) and Kamal Patel
(Germantwown, Md./Seneca Valley) had an outstanding weekends, with
newcomer each claiming four victories. Against Hartford, Gray
teamed with senior Joe Adewumi
(Phoenix, Ariz.) at No. 1 doubles and led off with a 8-3 victory as
the Retrievers swept the doubles matches.
In singles action, he defeated Alex Holdstein of Hartford, 6-1,
7-5, at the No. 5 position.
Patel partnered with junior Gaulthier
Berret (Lagny Sur Marne, France) and won, 8-3, at No. 3 doubles
on Saturday. He then cruised by Edgardo Ureta, 6-1, 6-0 at the No.
6 singles slot.
The Retrievers captured all six singles matches vs. the Hawks,
with No. 2 Cristian Hodel (Calarasi, Romania) and No. 4 Juan Manuel
Aranzazu () both prevailing in three sets.
UMBC came out strong in doubles vs. the Terriers, as all three
teams won tightly-contested matches.
Three of the six singles matches went the distance and UMBC won
two of those three. Berret and Patel won in straight sets at the
Nos. 3 and 6 positions respectively. Aranzazu shook off a tough
second set and a match point against in the third to capture a long
match, 6-4, 0-6, 7-6 (2) in a tie-breaker over No. 4 Emilio Teran,
while Gray dropped a first-set tie-breaker, but prevailed, 6-7 (4),
6-4, 10-7 over Alex Hallenbach.
Patel won the fourth and deciding point for UMBC, while Berret
also went 4-0 in matches at No. 3 doubles and
singles.
"The freshmen really stepped up in bringing home the victory
against Boston with Juan Manuel saving match point to come back and
win, Daniel coming from behind to win, and Kamal flat out rolling
over his opponent."
UMBC travels to Old Dominion to take on a tough Monarchs' squad
on Saturday.
