CAMDEN, N.J. – Kutztown University men's tennis delivered new head coach Pete Smith his first victory as a member of the Golden Bears by shutting out Rutgers-Camden, 7-0, Saturday.
 
The Golden Bears were in control from start-to-finish, winning all nine contested matches and sweeping 3-of-6 singles flights by 6-0, 6-0 scores.
 
Emmitt Robinson (Ingersoll, Ontario/Ingersoll District Collegiate Institute) and Lins Vennekold got the party started with a 6-1 decision over Julian Pinder and Christopher Abacan at third doubles. Henrique Rocha (Jaticua, Brazil/Escola SEB Maceio) and Dang Nguyen (Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam/) quickly followed with a matching 6-1 victory against Alex Loope and Alex Turcu at No. 1 to secure the doubles point.
 
Kutztown (1-0) finished off the doubles sweep with a 6-2 win from newcomer Nikita Safonov (Podolsk, Russia) and Lucas Cherniak (Buenos Aires, Argentina/Escuela Superior de Comercio Carlos Pellegrini) at No. 2.
 
The dominance continued for the Maroon and Gold in singles, where No. 4 Vennekold defeated Thanh Ngo and No. 3 Safonov beat Neal Shah by 6-0, 6-0 scores to push KU's lead to 3-0.
 
Robinson locked down the team victory with a 6-2, 6-0 win over Kenil Patwa at No. 3.
 
Top flight entry Nguyen was a 6-3, 6-3 winner over Loope, Raphael Hoareau Lebon (Saint-Joseph, Réunion) swept Turcu 6-0, 6-0 at No. 5 and Cherniak downed John Brady 6-2, 6-0 at No. 6 to complete the perfect afternoon.
 
Smith was making his coaching debut with the Golden Bears after leading the Ursinus College men for the last 17 seasons and winning more than 160 matches. He also led the KU to a 4-3 win over Rutgers-Camden in his debut with the women's team on Saturday.
 
Kutztown opens its fall home schedule this coming Thursday, Sept. 26, against Jefferson at 3 p.m.
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