KUTZTOWN, Pa. -- Kutztown led Millersville 3-1 in a PSAC men's tennis showdown Monday afternoon but the Marauders picked up wins in three closely contested singles matches at the top of the lineup to rally for a 4-3 victory over the Golden Bears at the Keystone Courts.
The teams were evenly matched across the board as all three doubles flights were decided by two games or fewer and singles featured a number of tight sets.
Millersville (8-6, 3-1 PSAC) gained an early edge in doubles with a 7-5 win from it's second pairing of Jasper de Koning and Paul Bagnouls over
Emmitt Robinson (Ingersoll, Ontario/Ingersoll District Collegiate Institute) and
Linus Vennekold (Laatzen, Germany/) before the host Bears bounced back to take the doubles point in dramatic fashion.
Dang Nguyen (Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam/) and
Henrique Rocha (Jaticua, Brazil/Escola SEB Maceio) held off Lino Morin and Sebas Castro, 7-5, at No. 1, before
Joaquin Perez (Pachuca, Mexico/Escuela Americana) and
Terrell Arejola (Quezon City, Philippines/Southville International School and Colleges) pulled out No. 2 doubles in a tiebreaker over Victor Suarez and Sandor Wulf 8-6 (6) to put the Maroon and Gold ahead 1-0 in the match.
Vennekold and Robinson picked up wins early in singles to extend Kutztown's (11-3, 1-2 PSAC) lead to 3-1. Vennekold captured his team-leading 10th singles victory of the season (10-3), 6-0, 6-2, over Paul Bagnouls at No. 6. Robinson moved within one win of double digits on the year (9-4) with a 6-3, 6-2 triumph over Wulf at No. 5 after Millersville had gotten on the board with a win at No. 4.
The top three flights were back-and-forth. Morin edged Nguyen 7-5, 6-4 at No. 1 and Suarez beat
Nikita Safonov (Podolsk, Russia/) 7-5, 6-1 at No. 2 to tie the match with only No. 3 left to be decided.
Kutztown came agonizingly close to defeating the Marauders for the first time since 2018 but de Koning staved off Rocha in a pair of tiebreakers to claim the final point 7-6 (3), 7-6 (4) and give Millersville its sixth consecutive victory in the all-time series.
Monday's win lifted Millersville into sole possession of second place in the PSAC standings. Kutztown remains in the fourth and final playoff spot with a Tuesday matchup at current No. 3 seed Bloomsburg on deck.
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