The Berkeley College men's tennis team dropped its second consecutive match to start the 2018 season, falling to the Cannoneers of Pratt Institute by a score of 9-0 on Saturday afternoon in a Hudson Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Conference contest. The match took place at the Pratt ARC in Brooklyn, NY. The Knights are now 0-2 on the year, while the Cannoneers improved to 3-5 on the season.
Pratt's top combination of Ben Erickson and Simon Salazar defeated Berkeley College's Rajah Ulrich Mopoundza and Thomas Garcia Mena at No. 1 doubles by a score of 8-0. In No. 2 doubles, the Cannoneers' duo of Hubert Chen and Johnson Meng rallied from a 6-2 deficit to win the final six games and defeat the Knights' Sebastien Rousseau and Nicolas Echavarria 8-6. Pratt Institute captured the third doubles match via forfeit. After doubles play, the Cannoneers held a commanding 3-0 advantage.
When play switched to singles, Pratt captured all six flights to account for the 9-0 final score. At No. 1 singles, Erickson dominated Mopoundza, 10-0. No. 2 singles featured the Cannoneers' Salzar defeated Sebastien Rousseau by a score of 0-1. Chen won his No. 3 singles match 8-3 over Echavarria, and Meng recorded a 10-0 sweep against Mena in No. 4 singles. The Cannoneers would register wins in the final two singles slots via forfeit.
Berkeley College will return to action on April 14, as the Knights will take on Vaughn College in another Hudson Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Conference match. The contest will take place at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, with start-time scheduled for 6:00pm.