Firebirds Men’s Tennis Edges St. Thomas Aquinas, 5-4 in Regular Season Finale
SPARKILL, NY – With one final singles match remaining to decide the match, freshman Marco Feligioni came through with a clutch win at the No. 6 spot to send the University of the District of Columbia men's tennis team to a 5-4 victory over St. Thomas Aquinas in both teams' regular season finale Saturday afternoon.
Feligioni (Architecture – Citta di Castello, Italy/Liceo Scientifico Citta di Piero) had no trouble with Gilbert Latingua, winning the match, 6-0, 6-0 to capture the victory for the Firebirds, who improved to 8-7 overall and 4-2 in league play.
UDC, which dropped a spot in the NCAA East Region rankings to No. 5 last week after consecutive losses to Queens and Concordia, snapped its two-match losing streak with today's win, and will await the seeding announcement for the ECC Championship Tournament. STAC fell to 7-13 overall and 2-4 in league play.
The Firebirds scored the match's first point as freshmen Ander Murillo and Diego Pinto teamed up for a dominant, 8-0 win at No. 3 doubles. UDC dropped the No. 1 and 2 doubles matches in succession, though, as the Spartans led 2-1 heading into singles play.
Pinto and Murillo won their matches back-to-back to begin singles play, and senior Simon Andersson followed with a win over Javier Munoz at No. 1 to give UDC a 4-2 lead with three singles matches remaining.
Freshmen Rok Bozic and Alexis Baguelin were then defeated at No. 2 and 3, respectively, as STAC tied the match, 4-4. This, however, set the stage for Feligioni to win the decisive 5th point for the Firebirds, as UDC came away with the match victory.