Men's Tennis Returns to League Play with 6-3 Win at Stonehill Wednesday
EASTON, Mass. – The Merrimack College men's tennis team played its first Northeast-10 Conference match in over a month, defeating the Stonehill Skyhawks, 6-3, on Wednesday evening to pick up its third league win of the season.
The Basics
Score: Merrimack 6, Stonehill 3
Records: Merrimack (4-7, 3-0 NE-10) | Stonehill (7-5, 4-1 NE-10)
Location: Easton, Mass.
How It Happened
The Warriors last took the court in NE-10 play on the last day of February, defeating the Saint Michael's Purple Knights by an 8-1 final.
The doubles ladder opened with a convincing 8-3 victory at No. 1 for sophomore Mikhail Belov (Krasnoarmeyskoy, Russia) and redshirt-freshman Laurence Akwei (Johannesburg, South Africa). Freshman Tyler Clontz (Naples, Fla.) played a spot up at second doubles, pairing with Nick Majewski (Brewster, Mass.) to win a back-and-forth match, 9-7.
At third doubles, senior captain Miguel Belfort (Caracas, Venezuela) and junior Tayyab Sheikh (Longmeadow, Mass.), who made his spring debut, combined to nearly pull off the doubles sweep, but lost at No. 3, 9-8.
Merrimack swept play at No. 1-4 singles to secure the victory. Belov won a three-set thriller at first singles. He won the opening frame, 6-3, but lose the second set by one game. In the third set, the all-rookie selection from last year prevailed by a 10-8 final. Majewski (6-2, 6-3) and Belfort (6-3, 7-5) were victorious at second and third, respectively. Akewi put forth a dominant showing at No. 1, combining to drop two games in the straight-set win.
Freshman Alex Slobin (Fairfield, Conn.) lost the first set at No. 5, but forced a third frame following a 6-3 win in the middle set. Sheikh debuted at sixth singles, winning his first set before falling in the final two.
Results
Doubles
1. Mikhail Belov / Laurence Akwei (MER) def. Joan Castillo / Nikolay Lisichenok (STO) 8-3
2. Nick Majewski / Tyler Clontz (MER) def. Tom Buckley / Jeffrey Gagnon (STO) 9-7
3. Dimitri Vlassov / Michael Doody (STO) def. Miguel Belfort / Tayyab Sheikh (MER) 9-8
Singles
1. Mikhail Belov (MER) def. Nikolay Lisichenok (STO) 6-3, 6-7, 10-8
2. Nick Majewski (MER) def. Joan Castillo (STO) 6-2, 6-3
3. Miguel Belfort (MER) def. Tom Buckley (STO) 6-3, 7-5
4. Laurence Akwei (MER) def. Jeffrey Gagnon (STO) 6-1, 6-1
5. Gerard Tierney (STO) def. Alex Slobin (MER) 6-1, 3-6, 6-2
6. Dimitri Vlassov (STO) def. Tayyab Sheikh (MER) 2-6, 7-5, 10-8
Up Next
In a rematch of last season's NE-10 Final, the Warriors hosts Adelphi on Saturday afternoon starting at 12 p.m.
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