HILTON HEAD, S.C. – The Kutztown University men's and women's tennis teams commenced the annual Spring Break trip to the PTR Spring TennisFest with convincing triumphs over St. Mary's College of Maryland on Sunday afternoon from Hilton Head High School.
 
The men's program (3-1), swept the courts without dropping a set on its way to a 9-0 win. The women's team (1-3) got its first dual match victory of the year with a 7-2 win.
 
On the men's side, Kutztown started the match with three tight victories in doubles competition. Rushi Amin (Orefield, PA/Lake Brantley) and Varun Desai (Mumbai, India/K.C. College) took down Andrew Gear and Mark Hardesty 8-4 at No. 1 doubles. The Golden Bears squeaked out two 9-7 victories at No. 2 and 3 doubles. Ben Nace (Spring Grove, Pa./Delone Catholic) and Rich Lichtenwalner (Allentown, Pa./Parkland) defeated John Feighner and Jay Guzzone at No. 2 and Matthew Maguire and Ken Beebe (Landenberg, Pa./Kennett) beat Robert Bishop and Wyatt Paulishak at No. 3.
 
In singles competition, Amin defeated Gear 6-4, 6-4 at No. 1 and Desai dominated Hardesty 6-1, 6-0 at No. 2 to guarantee the KU team victory. Maguire battled for a 7-6, 6-4 win over Feigner at No. 3 and Licthenwalner came out on top over Guzzone at No. 4 (6-4, 6-4). With the match in the books, the No. 5 matchup was reduced to an eight-game pro set with Patricio Hernandez (Mexico City, Mexico/Colegio Vista Hermosa) defeating Bishop 8-4. Parth Girme (Pune, India/B.M.C.C.) took down Paulishak in one set at No. 6 (6-4).
 
On the women's side, Kutztown grabbed two points in doubles competition. Chelsea Davis (Spring City, Pa./Spring-Ford) and Alyssa Konas (Lancaster, Pa./Hempfield) took down Emily Rost and Kayla Baier at No. 2 (8-1) and Erika Diffendall (Mountville, Pa./Lancaster Catholic) and Cynthia Good (Montrose, Pa./Elk Lake) defeated Mollie Johnson and Liza Moore at No. 3 (8-1). KU's Hannah Pipkin (Landisville, Pa./Hempfield) and Tori Zander (Pennsburg, PA/Upper Perkiomen) suffered an 3-8 loss to Shannon Ramsey and Emily Stumpfig at No. 1.
 
Pipkin turned things around in singles competition, taking down Ramsey 6-0, 6-3 in the No. 1 slot. Stumpfig handled Zander at No. 2 singles to give St. Mary's its final point of the day (6-2, 6-0). The Golden Bears took the final four singles matches on its way to the team victory. Konas defeated Rost at No. 3 (2-6, 6-4, 10-6), Davis dominated Johnson at No. 4 (6-0, 6-3), Good battled for a super-breaker victory over Baier at No. 5 (1-6, 6-2, 10-7), and Danielle Patterson (Larksville, Pa./Wyoming Valley West) defeated Moore in a one-set match (6-4).
 
Both squads are scheduled to face-off against McDaniel College tomorrow, Mar. 17 at 3:30 p.m.