FARMINGDALE, N.Y. – In a battle for first place in the Skyline Conference standings, the Manhattanville University men's tennis team emerged victorious against Farmingdale State College on Tuesday night, earning a 4-3 victory to be the last undefeated team in conference play standing, improving to 5-0 in the Skyline and 9-7 overall.
The Valiants were able to gain the upperhand in the clash of the Skyline titans by sweeping doubles play to snag the opening point.
Elouan Charretteur (Fontainebleau, France/Lycée International Francois Premier 1er) and
Kazuma Kato (Nerima, Tokyo, Japan/Aioi Gakuin) defeated Devan Melandro and Zakaria Ahmed on the show court 6-2 to get things started before
Thomas Jouanneau (Luneville, France/Lycee Arago) and
Derwin Guzman (Bronx, N.Y./Frederick Douglass Academy) took down Kwaku Agyeman and Henri Pothier 6-1 in No. 2s to secure the doubles point. For good measure,
Nicholas Gervasi (Melbourne, Victoria, Australia/Epsom College) and
Sami Badre-Hume (Brooklyn, N.Y./Bay Ridge Prep) outlasted Emil Sabovic and Luke Plana in a 7-5 thriller to turn the page over to singles action.
The doubles point proved to make the difference as the teams split the six singles tilts. Farmingdale went in front by winning the first two solo points up for grabs, as Pothier defeated Gervasi 6-4, 6-4 in No. 5s and Danial Zindani beating Badre-Hum 6-1, 6-4 in No. 6s. Charretteur pulled the Valiants back even with a 6-4, 6-1 win in No. 3s over Agyeman before Farmingdale retook the advantage with Michael Lerman's 7-5, 6-1 victory against Guzman in No. 4s.
With Farmingdale needing to take just one of the remaining two singles flights for the victory, all attention turned to the top two courts as both went to a third set. In No. 2s, Kato bounced back from a 6-1 opening set loss to Ahmed with a 6-4 win in the second before blanking his opponent 6-0 to put the deciding point in the hands of Jouanneau and Melandro. The Rams' Melandro took the opening set 6-2, but Jouanneau came back with a 6-3 win in the second and claimed the match for Manhattanville with a 6-2 decision in the third.
Up Next
The Valiants return home on Friday to host Mount Saint Vincent at 3 p.m.
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