Men's Tennis Edged by Bentley 5-4
NORTH ANDOVER, Mass.- The Merrimack men's tennis team suffered its first and only Northeast-10 Conference loss Saturday, falling to Bentley 5-4. The Warriors sink to 16-4 overall and 10-1 in the league. The Falcons improved to 10-7 on the year with a 10-1 mark in the conference.
Bentley captured two doubles wins to own a 2-1 lead at the start of singles play. Tim McHugh (Edgartown, Mass.) and Chris Toegemann (Narragansett, R.I.) claimed Merrimack's lone pairs win on the day with an 8-6 victory at the No. 2 position.
At the No. 1 singles slot, Chris Barnhart (Longmeadow, Mass.) battled back to win in three sets. After dropping the first set 6-3, Barnhart prevailed 6-4, 7-6 to take the match. Petar Golijanin (Novi Sad, Serbia) earned a 6-2, 6-4 victory at the third singles match. Toegemann triumphed 7-6, 6-2 at the No. 6 position to close out the scoring for the Warriors.
By virtue of a three-way tie atop the Northeast-10 standings, Merrimack will likely receive the No. 2 seed in the Northeast-10 Conference playoffs. The Warriors will likely face Pace in the first round, April 19.
RESULTS
Doubles
1. Wever/ Ribeiro (B) def. Barnhart/ Eppley (M) 8-3
2. McHugh/ Toegemann (M) def. Spycher/ Chase (B) 8-6
3. Suski/ Waddington (B) def. Golijanin/ Hoare (M) 8-3
Singles
1. Barnhart (M) def. Wever (B) 3-6, 6-4, 7-6
2. Ribeiro (B) def. Eppley (M) 7-6, 6-2
3. Golijanin (M) def. Suski (B) 6-2, 6-4
4. Spycher (B) def. McHugh (M) 6-2, 6-2
5. Waddington (B) def. Hoare (M) 6-2, 6-0
6. Toegemann (M) def. Chase (M) 7-6, 6-2
