KUTZTOWN, Pa. – Kutztown University men's tennis prevailed at singles flights two, five, and six, Saturday, but it wasn't enough as the Golden Bears fell to the Griffins of Chestnut Hill 4-3 at Keystone Courts.
Kutztown (1-1) was looking for its first victory against Chestnut Hill (1-0), who had won the previous three meetings.
The Griffins got off to a fast start in the doubles. Tono Franquis and Tobi Michel defeated
Neal Devkaran (Fairfax, Va./Paul VI Catholic) and
Sebastian Arizpe (Puebla, Mexico/Colegio Humboldt de Puebla) 6-2 in doubles flight two, while Noah Cutting and Tiago Lima also came out on top in flight one against
Gonzalo Barcelo (San Pedro, Argentina/Nuestra Senora del Socorro) and
Joaquin Perez (Pachuca, Mexico/Escuela Americana) by the same 6-2 score line.
Although Chestnut Hill had already clinched the doubles point,
Lucas Cherniak (Buenos Aires, Argentina/Escuela Superior de Comercio Carlos Pellegrini) and
Jacob Bosler (Elkton, Md./Elkton) stole some of the Griffin's momentum with a 6-4 victory at flight three.
In the singles, Noah Cutting defeated Perez 6-0, 6-2 at No.1 to give the Griffins a 2-0 lead. At No. 2, Barcelo kept the Golden Bears in the match with a key 6-3, 6-3 victory.
Chestnut Hill would pull away though, winning at flights three and four. Tono Franquis defeated Devkaran 6-4, 6-3 at No.3, while Tobi Michel defeated Arizpe 6-1, 6-0 to secure the victory for the Griffins.
Despite the match being clinched, KU continued to battle at flights five and six.
Emmitt Robinson (Ingersoll, Ontario/Ingersoll District Collegiate Institute) and
Justin Gincauskas (Mississauga, Ontario/Cawthra Park Secondary) both improved to 2-0 on the year in singles play. Robinson, a freshman from Canada, defeated Marcello Bozzone 6-3, 6-4 at No. 5, while fellow Canadian Gincauskas battled back after dropping the first set to defeat Siddharth Malik 4-6, 7-6(4), 10-4 at No. 6.
The Golden Bears 4-3 loss is the closest defeat in their four matches all time against the Griffins. The two teams will meet again in the spring at Chestnut Hill.
Kutztown will look to get back in the win column next week with an away match at Jefferson next Saturday, Sept. 17, at noon.
