Men's Tennis Blanks Stonehill, 9-0
Links: Box Score
NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. – The Merrimack College men's tennis team moved within one win of clinching the program's fifth straight Northeast-10 Conference regular-season championship with a 9-0 shutout of the Stonehill Skyhawks on Thursday afternoon from North Andover High School. Merrimack entered the matchup in first place in the NE-10, while Stonehill remains in third place after the loss.
The Basics
Score: Merrimack 9 | Stonehill 0
Records: Merrimack (9-6, 8-0 NE-10) | Stonehill (13-5, 7-2 NE-10)
Location: North Andover High School | North Andover, Mass.
What They Said
Head coach Aaron Bergeron: "It was tough going up against my alma mater, I have a lot of respect and admiration for the work that put in year-in and year-out. We talked about coming out with intensity after I thought we lacked that in our last match, and the guys delivered. We need to use the momentum from this match as we make a push into the playoffs."
Northeast-10 Postseason Outlook
The top-six teams advance to the NE-10 Championship, with the top-two finishers securing first-round byes until the semifinals. With a win tomorrow afternoon against AIC, the Warriors will clinch the regular-season championship for the fifth consecutive season and the top seed in the conference tournament.
1) Merrimack 8-0
2) Adelphi 8-1
3) Stonehill 7-2
4) Bentley 6-2
5) Assumption 5-3
6) Le Moyne 5-3
7) Southern NH 4-5
8) Saint Anselm 2-7
9) Saint Michael's 1-8
10) Franklin Pierce 1-8
11) American Int'l 0-8
How It Happened
Senior Vince Bellino (Amesbury, Mass.) was honored before the match as part of the Senior Day festivities. Bellino entered Thursday's match with 99 combined victories between singles and doubles action over the last four years, and won his 100th career match after he and partner Miguel Belfort (Caracas, Venezuela) prevailed at No. 2 doubles, 8-6.
In doubles play, No. 2 was actually the last of the three matches to finish, as the Warriors took No. 1 and No. 3. Merrimack's pair of Nick Majewski (Brewster, Mass.) and Frank Vega (Lima, Peru) defeated their opposition, 8-3, and shortly after that the Warriors top pair of Mikhail Belov (Krasnoarmeyskoy, Russia) and Steven Francis (Perth, Australia) won at No. 1, 8-2.
During singles action, Francis put forth one of his best efforts of the season. He defeated Thomas Bellio, a three-time player of the week and five-time rookie of the week selection, 6-1 and 6-4. Belfort responded well at No. 2, getting the best of his opponent by set scores of 6-0 and 6-2. The win at No. 2 clinched the match for the Navy and Gold.
Belov's match ended early in the second set as Jared Drzal retired just two points in. Bellino collected career victory number 101 in straight sets at No. 4. Vega remained unbeaten during NE-10 singles with a straight sets win at No. 5, while Majewski battled through a third set tiebreak to win, 10-8.
Results
Doubles
1. Steven Francis/Mikhail Belov (MER) def. Thomas Bellio/Nikolay Lisichenok (STO) 8-2
2. Miguel Belfort/Vince Bellino (MER) def. Tom Alaimo/Jon Sanders (STO) 8-6
3. Nick Majewski/Frank Vega (MER) def. Jared Drzal/Tom Buckley (STO) 8-3
Singles
1. Steven Francis (MER) def. Thomas Bellio (STO) 6-1, 6-4
2. Miguel Belfort (MER) def. Tom Alaimo (STO) 6-0, 6-2
3. Mikhail Belov (MER) def. Jared Drzal (STO) 6-4, 2-0 (retired)
4. Vince Bellino (MER) def. Nikolay Lisichenok (STO) 6-1, 6-2
5. Frank Vega (MER) def. Jon Sanders (STO) 6-2, 6-3
6. Nick Majewski (MER) def. Philip Klados (STO) 6-4, 5-7, 10-8
Up Next
The Warriors will look to clinch their fifth straight regular-season Northeast-10 Championship tomorrow afternoon against American International College at 3 p.m. from North Andover High School.
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