FAIRMONT, W.Va. -- Gonzalo Barcelo (San Pedro, Argentina/Nuestra Senora del Socorro) captured a win over regionally ranked Kan Watanabe at No. 1 singles, but it wasn't enough to push Kutztown men's tennis past Fairmont State in a road non-conference match Saturday afternoon. The Falcons claimed a 6-1 victory and brought KU's season to a close.
Barcelo bounced back from a 6-3 opening set loss to force a super tiebreaker with a 7-5 win in the second. The tiebreaker went down to the wire as well, with the Golden Bear (7-10) sophomore emerging with a 10-8 win over the ITA Atlantic Region's 20th-ranked singles player.
Kutztown's steady improvement was evident in the way it competed against the Falcons (14-2), who appeared third in the latest NCAA Division II Atlantic Region rankings.
Though Fairmont State swept doubles, KU's second team of
Sebastian Arizpe (Puebla, Mexico/Colegio Humboldt de Puebla) and
Justin Gincauskas (Mississauga, Ontario/Cawthra Park Secondary) won three games in a 6-3 loss to Elia Barozzi and Seena Saadevandi.
In singles, Gincauskas sent his match with Austin Noel at No. 6 to a super tiebreaker before coming up just short. The junior from Mississauga, Ontario, overcame a first-set loss (1-6) like his teammate Barcelo, extending the match with a 6-3 win in the second. Noel prevailed with a 10-6 decision in the tiebreaker.
Emmitt Robinson (Ingersoll, Ontario/Ingersoll District Collegiate Institute) took four games from Alex Stacy in a 6-4, 6-1 defeat at No. 4, while Arizpe claimed four games against Jacob Boone at No. 5 in a 6-3, 6-1 loss.
Kutztown's seven victories are its most since a 10-4 season in 2017-18. Head coach
Wyatt Pauley, who joined the program midway through the 2021-22 season, has the program headed back in the right direction. In the previous four campaigns since their 10-win season, the Bears had just nine victories combined.
Continuity should also benefit KU heading into 2023-24 as they are not expected to lose any of their current roster players to graduation.
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