HAMILTON, N.Y. – Lehigh men’s tennis opened Patriot League play on Sunday afternoon on the road against the Colgate Raiders. The Mountain Hawks dropped the opening doubles point but won five of six singles bouts to win 5-2.
“This was a tough opening Patriot League match for us,” said head coach Craig Schwartz. “Colgate really gave us all we could handle and I am happy to come away with our first league win.”
Colgate (4-3, 0-1 PL) earned the first win over Lehigh (3-2, 1-0 PL) in doubles, as Tim Viding and Aidan Chung earned a 6-2 victory over Wyeth Anzilotti and Jose Murariu at number two. Marc Blekhman and Sean Jaeger picked up their fourth doubles win of the season with a 6-3 win at number one, but the pairing of Rafael Gracie and Jackson Morash dropped a 6-3 decision at number three to give Colgate the doubles point.
Jaeger started off singles for Lehigh with a bang, quickly earning a two-set win over Aidan Lee at number three. The Raiders responded with a two-set win of their own from Jerome Falcon at number six to take a 2-1 advantage in the match. However, Blekhman picked up a 6-2, 6-1 win over Josh Israel at number two soon after to even the score.
The next match to finish was at number one, where Murariu picked up a hard-fought 6-4, 7-5 win at number one to put the Mountain Hawks one win away from the clinch. After falling in the first set 6-2, Benedict Horn-Bourque evened the score with a 6-2 set two win at number six to force a third. The sophomore defeated Viding 6-4 in the third to clinch a 1-0 start for Lehigh in Patriot League play. Morash closed out the afternoon with a 7-6 (8-6), 6-4 win over Chung at number four to set the score at 5-2.
“Marc and Sean really set the tone in singles for us with routine wins,” said Schwartz. “It was also great to see Benedict have a three-set win for us.”
The Mountain Hawks return to action on Wednesday, February 26 for a home date with the FDU Knights at 6 p.m.
“Overall, we can take many positives away from this match, but walk away knowing we have a lot of work ahead of us to achieve our ultimate goal of a Patriot League championship,” said Schwartz.
Singles
Jose Murariu (Lehigh) def. Benito Vlassis (Colgate) 6-4, 7-5
Marc Blekhman (Lehigh) def. Josh Israel (Colgate) 6-2, 6-1
Sean Jaeger (Lehigh) def. Aidan Lee (Colgate) 6-2, 6-2
Jackson Morash (Lehigh) def. Aidan Chung (Colgate) 7-6 (8-6), 6-4
Benedict Horn-Bourque (Lehigh) def. Tim Viding (Colgate) 2-6, 6-2, 6-4
Jerome Falcon (Colgate) def. Victor Imanishi (Lehigh) 6-3, 6-1
Order of finish: 3, 6, 2, 1, 5, 4
Doubles
Blekhman/Jaeger (Lehigh) def. Vlassis/Israel (Colgate) 6-3
Viding/Chung (Colgate) def. Murariu/Anzilotti (Lehigh) 6-2
McGowan/Falcon (Colgate) def. Morash/Gracie (Lehigh) 6-3
Order of finish: 2, 1, 3
