PURCHASE, N.Y. – In a meeting of the two last undefeated teams in conference play, the Manhattanville College men's tennis celebrated Senior Day with a thrilling 5-4 win over Farmingdale State on Saturday afternoon. The win brings the Valiants to .500 overall with a 4-4 record on the season while improving to 3-0 in Skyline play, the team's 13^th-straight regular season conference win dating back to April 2021.

Prior to the first serve, the team honored the Class of 2023 that helped hoist the Skyline Conference Championship a season ago and punch a ticket to the program's first-ever NCAA Tournament. Dylan Crowley (Pelham, N.Y./Pelham Memorial), Luis Gonzalez (Norwalk, Conn./Brien McMahon), Vincent Liberatore (Yonkers, N.Y./Archbishop Stepinac), Max Moeller (Crestwood, N.Y./Iona Prep) and Jaime Peredo (Uruapan, México/Instituto Morelos) were recognized and celebrated with a prematch ceremony.

Turning focus to the action on the court, the Valiants found themselves in a rare situation against a conference opponent, trailing after doubles play. Peredo and Shiel Loganadan (New York, N.Y./Mary McDowell Friends) were able to rack up the win over Matthew Olkhovetsky and Vincent Manzi in the No. 3 draw, 8-3, but Crowley and Moeller fell in No. 2 action to Alan Sabovic and Muhammad Sawar 6-8, while James Hourihan (Ridgefield, Conn./Ridgefield) and Weston Goodwin (Freeport, Maine/Freeport) were bested in the top flight by Mark Baker and Ryan Hendel by an identical score. The Valiants' conference winning streak hung in the balance as the home squad would need to take four of the six singles matches to earn the victory.

Things started off well for the Valiants as Loganadan defeated Sawar 6-2, 6-3 in the No. 4 Singles draw, but Hourihan fell to Baker 1-6, 1-6 in the No. 1 flight while Gonzalez was bested by Sabovic in No. 2 play 5-7, 3-6 to put Farmingdale a point away from victory. With their backs up against the wall, the Valiants won the remaining three draws, all of which headed to a third-set breaker. Crowley was the first to win as he shook off a 6-7 (7-9) loss in the opening set against Olkhovetsky in the No. 5 position to take the second set 7-6 (7-3) before winning the breaker 6-4. Over in the sixth flight, Peredo fought back from a first set loss of his own against Manzi. The senior dropped the opening frame 3-6 before winning the next two 6-3, 7-5 to tie the match up at four points apiece. It all came down to the No. 3 draw of Goodwin vs Hendel. The Rams' Hendel won the first set 7-5 before Goodwin took the second, 6-4. In the deciding third set which would crown the match winner, Goodwin emerged victorious 7-5 to keep the Valiants atop the conference standings to bring a happy end to Senior Day.

Up Next
The Valiants head to Purchase College on Tuesday for the Battle of Anderson Hill Road at 4 p.m.

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