The Berkeley College men's tennis team dropped its season-opener on Thursday evening, falling to the Cannoneers of Pratt Institute by a score of 5-4 in a Hudson Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Conference contest. The match was played at the Pratt ARC in Brooklyn, NY.
In what turned out to be a classic contest that could serve as an eventual preview to a potential playoff meeting in late April, the Cannoneers took the early advantage by capturing two of the three doubles flights. At No. 1, Ben Erickson and Rongxin Zhang teamed to defeat the Knights' combination of Victor Marotta and Raj Ulrich Mopoundza by a score of 8-3. Pratt Institute's Hubert Chan and Simon Salazar outlasted Berkeley College's Johnathan Wilson and Alexander Maurmann 8-6 at No. 2 doubles, and the Knights captured the No. 3 doubles flight when Nicolas Echavarria and Sebastien Rousseau dominated Johnson Meng and Taeyoung Chang, 8-1.
When play switched over to singles competition, the teams captured three flights apiece, accounting for the 5-4 final score in favor of Pratt Institute. The No. 6 singles flight was completed first when Rousseau made quick work of Chang, defeating him by a score of 10-1. Marotta finished off Zhang at No. 2 singles by a score of 10-3, giving Berkeley College a 3-2 advantage in the match. Over at No. 4 singles, Chen put the finishing touches on a victory, as he silenced Mopoundza, 10-2. That evened things up at 3-3.
Pratt Institute would then catapult ahead when Salazar put away Echavarria 10-1 at the No. 4 singles. At that juncture, the Cannoneers held a 4-3 edge in the match. Wilson would then keep the Knights alive, as he would outlast Erickson in an absolute duel at No. 1 singles by a score of 10-8. With the match knotted 4-4, Pratt Institute would come away with a victory when Meng would inch by Maurmann at the No. 5 singles flight, defeating him by a score of 10-8. Following the valiant effort that resulted in a tough defeat, first-year Head Coach Jeff Menaker gave his thoughts.
"As expected, we struggled on the famously fast court surface at Pratt this evening," Menaker said. "Following doubles competition, Jonathan, Sebastien, and Victor made some great adjustments and were able to solidify wins at the singles flights. Alex had some unlucky breaks this evening in both formats, but I am a believer that those breaks will even out over the course of the season. This match easily could have gone either way, but close matches tend to tilt toward home teams, especially indoors. We felt great as a team afterwards. I think we gained confidence now that we've seen them, and we would certainly welcome another match against them in a potential postseason matchup."
The Knights will look to capture their first victory of the season when they travel to Delhi, New York on Saturday to take on SUNY Delhi in a non-conference match. Start-time for that contest is scheduled for 2:00pm.
RESULTS
Singles:
1. Johnathan Wilson (BERKELEY) def. Ben Erickson (PRATT) 10-8
2. Victor Marrota (BERKELEY) def. Rongxin Zhang (PRATT) 10-3
3. Hubert Chen (PRATT) def. Raj Ulrich Mopoundza (BERKELEY) 10-2
4. Simon Salazar (PRATT) def. Nicholas Echavarria (BERKELEY) 10-1
5. Johnson Meng (PRATT) def. Alexander Maurmann (BERKELEY) 10-8
6. Sebastien Rousseau (BERKELEY) def. Taeyoung Chang (PRATT) 10-1
Doubles:
1. Ben Erickson/Rongxin Zhang (PRATT) def. Victor Marrota/Raj Ulrich Mopoundza (BERKELEY) 8-3
2. Hubert Chen/Simon Salazar (PRATT) def. Johnathan Wilson/Alexander Maurmann (BERKELEY) 8-6
3. Nicholas Echavarria/Sebastien Rousseau (BERKELEY) def. Johnson Meng/Taeyoung Chang (PRATT) 8-1
