PURCHASE, N.Y. - The Manhattanville University men's tennis team took to the courts this afternoon to compete alongside the women's team against Pratt Institute. The six-member squad demonstrated nothing but determination for the duration of the match, winning 4-3. This brings their off season to an overall record of 1-1.
The typical pairings for doubles were set with Lev Uitterhoeve (Maastricht, The Netherlands/Porta Mosana College) and Mario Alcala () finishing first on the No. 2 court. They defeated Pratt tag team Caleb Callahan and Calder Tillinghast, 6-1. Next completed match of doubles play was over on court No. 3. Justin White (Brooklyn, N.Y./Mary McDowell Friends School) and John Curtin () were the only loss in doubles play falling to Nathan Park and John Cherry, 6-3. With one win and one loss under their belts at this point, it was up to the battle on court one to see who would get the first point of the match. Griffin Forberg (Fairfield, Conn./Fairfield-Ludlowe) and Derwin Guzman (Bronx, N.Y./Frederick Douglass Academy) remained steady and determined as they beat Eagle Zhang and Mikah Liu, 6-3. With this win, the Valiants were able to secure the first point of the contest.
The first matches to finish were the three wins in singles play going down three, two, one. With these results, the Valiants had secured the overall win of the entire contest. Guzman finished first in an even-tempered win over Calder 6-2, 6-0. Uitterhoeve finished on the No. 2 flight defeating Liu 6-3, 6-2. The overall score now stood at 3-0 with the next finished for Manhattanville was on the line. Providentially, the next match to finish was won by Valiant senior Forberg who resided on the first court. He defeated Zhang 6-3, 6-4. The following three matches were taken by the Cannoneers. Alcala fell to Pratt Freshman Nathan Park 6-2, 6-4. White dropped his match next to Cherry 6-2, 6-1. The overall score now stood at 4-2 with one more final match remaining. Curtin stood tall against Caleb Callahan bringing his match to three sets. Curtin won the first set in an extensive 7-5 thriller. Callahan came back to win the second set in an easy 6-1 finish. With each having a set behind them, one more tiebreaker was needed to determine who would finish off the entire match for the day. With each team standing by cheering on every point, it was Callahan who came out on top bringing the cannoneers to three total points on the day. Regardless of the substantial efforts to recover from earlier in the day, the Valiants still managed to come out on top.
The squad wraps up their off season play with this contest. They look forward to competing in their regular season in the spring of 2025.
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