Firebirds Fall to Chestnut Hill, 7-2
WASHINGTON, DC – The University of the District of Columbia men's tennis team was defeated by Chestnut Hill College, 7-2 in a battle of regionally-ranked foes Monday afternoon at UDC Tennis Courts.
UDC, ranked No. 6 in the first NCAA Division II East Region poll released last week, had its three-match win streak snapped and fell to 6-4 overall with the loss. Chestnut Hill, the No. 2 ranked team in the East Region out of the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC), won its third straight match to improve to 8-5 overall.
The Firebirds managed wins at No. 2 doubles and No. 4 singles, as junior Ander Murillo teamed up with junior Alexis Baguelin for an 8-2 win and later defeated Antoine Gautier, 6-3, 7-5 in singles for UDC's only two points of the day.
Chestnut Hill won the No. 1 and 3 doubles matches, and claimed all but one of six singles matches. UDC took four of those five singles losses to a third set.
Pierre Kohler, the No. 3 ranked singles player in the ITA East Region poll, needed three sets and four tiebreaks to beat junior Rok Bozic (No. 12) in the No. 1 singles match. Bozic won the first set 6-2, but Kohler bounced back to win, 2-6, 6-2, 7-6 (4).
Likewise, at No. 2 singles, junior Diego Pinto of UDC outlasted Felix Andre 7-6 after four tiebreaks in the first set, but Andre came storming back to win the next two sets, 6-0, 6-3.
Baguelin lost his first set to the No. 13 ranked player in the East Region, Jonathan Ducretot at No. 3 singles, fought back to win the 2nd set 6-4, but ultimately lost the 3rd set, 7-5. Similarly, junior Marco Feligioni lost his first set to Victor Iove, 6-2, battled through five tie breaks to win the 2nd set, 7-6, but ultimately lost the 3rd set, 10-5.
Up next, the Firebirds will host the reigning East Coast Conference champion and No. 3 ranked team in the East Region, New York Institute of Technology. The match will be played on Friday, April 14th at 12 p.m.