EWING, N.J. – The TCNJ men's tennis team took two of three doubles courts against visiting Hobart on Friday, but the Statesmen turned the tables in singles action to edge out a nail-biting 5-4 non-conference thriller.
The loss was the first of the spring for TCNJ (4-1), which came up short in three of four third-set super breakers in singles.
Sean Pesin and Jett Wright – ranked 14
th nationally and fourth in the region – staked Hobart (1-2) to a lead with an 8-5 defeat of
Matthew Michibata and
Harrison Maitland-Carter at No. 1 doubles.
The Lions bounced back to take the two remaining courts, starting with a tiebreak victory for
Nick Matkiwsky and
Akul Telluri over regionally ranked Troy Steiner and Harry Lyu at No. 2.
Jacob Quijano and
Alberto Thomas managed to pull out the rubber match by a single break, defeating Nick Fischer and Hyat Oyer by an 8-6 count on the number three court.
Hobart, however, got the best of a series of nip-and-tuck individual clashes. Thomas scored a 6-3, 6-3 decision against Oyer, but Winter Fagerberg pulled out a 10-3 win in a third-set super breaker with Maitland-Carter at No. 3 to get the Statesmen back in it.
Hobart took the lead with a pair of barn-burners at No. 1 and No. 2. Pesin eked out a second-set tiebreaker and an 11-9 marathon in the super tiebreak third set against Michibata before Lyu gave
Adrian Tsui his first loss of the season with a 6-4, 3-6, 10-5 triumph at No. 2.
The Statesmen finished it off with a win at fifth singles, rendering moot a hard-fought 7-5, 4-6, 10-7 win by
Brett Schuster at No. 6.
Matkiwsky now sits one win away from 50 for his career for the Lions, who head to Salisbury on Sunday.
