EWING, N.J. – Alberto Thomas staved off a big scare in doubles en route to joining the 100-win club as the TCNJ men's tennis team blanked Ursinus, 7-0, on Wednesday.
Putting an exclamation point on a glorious afternoon on the outdoor courts, Thomas joined teammate
Harrison Maitland-Carter in the Century Club, but it was far from a formality.
With the doubles point already secured via 6-2 wins by Maitland-Carter and
Asa Wong at number one and
Sidd Arudi and
Tomas Velez at number three, all eyes turned to Thomas, who needed two wins on Wednesday to reach the big milestone.
Playing alongside
Nathan Chan at number two doubles, Thomas needed to overcome 5-4 and 6-5 deficits to outlast Deniz Finkel and Bogdan Maksimovic, 7-4, in a tiebreaker to keep his pursuit alive.
Singles was a straightforward affair for the Lions (5-2).
Brett Schuster (6-1, 6-0 at No. 5), Chan (6-1, 6-1 at No. 3), and
Faris Shehata (6-1, 6-1) quickly clinched the match with dominating victories.
Maitland-Carter was a 6-2, 6-3 winner over Finkel at number two, and Arudi handled James Fassbender 6-3, 6-0 at number six.
That left it to Thomas, who notched his milestone win with his whole team watching. The senior defeated Teddy Snyder 6-3, 6-1 to officially reach 100 career victories and punctuate the team sweep.
NOTES
- The 21st player in TCNJ men's tennis history to record at least 100 wins, Thomas is 44-26 in singles and 56-28 in doubles for his career
- Maitland-Carter moved into a tie with G.J. Homefield '97 for 10th in program history with 115 career wins
- Maitland-Carter's 64th career doubles win put him all alone in 4th in school history
- Schuster is closest to 100 wins among the rest of the Lions, posting his 86th career victory on Wednesday
UP NEXT
- The Lions host No. 26 NYU on Saturday
