BALTIMORE – The UMBC men's tennis team won its home finale, defeating a strong Georgetown squad, 5-2, at the UMBC Tennis Complex.
The Retrievers won their third straight match and triumphed for the fifth time in the last six matches. UMBC heads into their first Missouri Valley Conference tournament with a record of 11-5 overall, while the Hoyas slip to 8-7.
Before the match, UMBC honored seniors Daniel Gray (Bowie, Md./The Bullis School), Eric Jarkowski (Baltimore, Md./Poly), Justin Lansinger (Eldersburg, Md./Liberty) and Kamal Patel (Germantown, Md./Seneca Valley). Gray ended the match with an insurance point in singles, triumphing 7-5, 6-3 at the No. 6 flight.
The Retrievers and Hoyas split the Nos. 1 and 2 doubles matches, leaving it up to juniors Justin Carter (Randallstown, Md.) and Eliott Loubatie (Paris, France). In a tight match, the tandem edged the duo of Marco Lam/Jack Murphy, 8-5, to take the doubles point.
Junior Jaan Kononov (Talinn, Estonia) continued his sterling play, getting off the court quickly in a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Daniel Khanin at the No. flight. Georgetown would cut the deficit to 2-1 with a victory at No. 2 singles, but Carter rallied to win a pivotal match at No. 3. He dropped the first set, 6-4, to Alex Tropiano, but took over the match in the middle of the second set and triumphed, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2.
Carter's doubles partner, Loubatie ended the day's drama with 6-2, 7-6 (1) victory over Andrew Dottino. Loubatie rallied late in the second set to break Dottino and send the set to a tie-breaker, where he won the final five points of the set to clinch the match for the Retrievers.
The Retrievers fly to St. Louis on Thursday and begin play in the conference championship when they take on Southern Illiinois on Friday at 3:00 p.m. CDT.
UMBC 5, Georgetown 2
Doubles
1) Beatty/Khanin (G) def. Gray/Drean (UMBC), 8-6
2) Kononov/Svard (UMBC) def. Tropiano/Rechan (G), 8-2
3) Carter/Loubatie (UMBC) def. Lam/Murphy (G), 8-5
Order of Finish: 2,1,3*
Singles
1) Jaan Kononov (UMBC) def. Daniel Khanin (G), 6-2,6-1
2) Marco Lam (G) def. Melker Svard (UMBC), 6-4, 6-1
3) Justin Carter (UMBC) def. Alex Tropiano (G), 4-6, 6-4, 6-2
4) Peter Beatty (G) def. Alex Drean (UMBC), 7-5, 4-6, 7-5
5) Eliott Loubatie(UMBC) def. Andrew Dottino (G), 6-2, 7-6 (1)
6) Daniel Gray (UMBC) def. Mac Rechan (G), 7-5, 6-3
Order of finish: 1,2,3,5*,4,6
