KUTZTOWN, Pa. -- Kutztown University men's tennis made quite the 2024-25 home debut, Tuesday, knocking off a Jefferson team that advanced to last year's NCAA Division II Sweet 16, 5-2, at the Keystone Courts.
Not only did the Golden Bears (2-0) register their biggest victory in recent memory, they did it the hard way. After dropping the doubles point, KU bounced back to win five of the six singles flights, including thrilling matches at No. 2 and No. 4 that went to a super tiebreaker.
"Jefferson has been the gold standard of DII tennis in this region for quite some time," first-year head coach Pete Smith said. "This was a huge win for our guys and the program overall."
Kutztown nearly came out on the right side of doubles, too.
Emmitt Robinson (Ingersoll, Ontario/Ingersoll District Collegiate Institute) and
Linus Vennekold (Laatzen, Germany) defeated Johary Rabetrano and Mario Antonio, 6-4, at No. 3 to even doubles at 1-1. Smith's No. 2 pair of
Nikita Safonov (Podolsk, Russia) and
Joaquin Perez (Pachuca, Mexico/Escuela Americana) went to a tiebreaker against the Rams' Antonio Mateos Melenchon and Jules Thibault but came up two points short in a 7-6 (5) defeat.
Rabetrano pushed Jefferson's (1-1) lead to 2-0 with a 6-2, 6-0 straight set victory over
Henrique Rocha (Jaticua, Brazil/Escola SEB Maceio) at No. 3, but it was all Golden Bears from there.
Vennekold beat Ayan Mehra 7-5, 6-3 at No. 6 and Robinson bested Filip Slavkovic 6-1, 7-5 at No. 5 to tie the match at two. KU went in front for good courtesy of
Dang Nguyen's (Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam/) 6-3, 6-4 top flight win over Enrique Soto Ballester.
Though the Maroon and Gold surged ahead, drama was still playing out at No. 4 and No. 2. Perez had to rally from a tiebreak setback in the first set against Jo Villetorte to emerge victorious at No. 4 and secure the match for Kutztown. The junior came through with a 6-7 (2), 6-2, 10-8 victory.
Safonov rallied for a 5-7, 6-4, 10-5 win over Mateos Melenchon at No. 2 to conclude play.
Kutztown snapped a six-match losing skid to the Philadelphia-based Rams, which dated back to 2016. Jefferson ended the 2023-24 season ranked 43rd in the ITA Division II Poll and No. 2 in the ITA East Region.
"I felt like we've been working hard and having a good fall but you never know how the players are going to react when they get into a match like this," Smith said. "Today, they were terrific. I am so proud of this group. We had some amazing individual performances and I'm looking forward to seeing just how good we can be going forward."
Kutztown will get a few opportunities to build upon Tuesday's victory as it is scheduled to play a 3-in-3 this coming weekend. The Bears will travel to Messiah on Saturday for a 1 p.m. start, before visiting Chestnut Hill on Sunday at noon. KU is back at the Keystone Courts next Monday, Oct. 14, to host Daemen at 2 p.m.
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