WASHINGTON, DC – On Friday, the St. Thomas Aquinas men's tennis team traveled
to our nation's capital to face conference foe University of the District of Columbia,
in what might have been the closest match of the season. Searching for their second
conference win, the Firebirds took a 2-1 lead out of the doubles slate, winning at
first and third doubles.
For the Spartans, Andreu Ferragut '18 (Palma de Mallorca,
Spain) and Roger Almato '19 (Vic, Spain) won at second doubles over Rok Bozic and
Marco Feligioni, 8-4. The win marked their fifth as a duo in the last six matches.
Facing a deficit heading into singles play, St. Thomas Aquinas would need to
win four of the six singles matches for the win. After UDC wins at fifth and sixth
singles, the Spartans were looking at a 4-1 hole with four matches to play. What
followed was perhaps the closest conference match in Spartan history.
St. Thomas Aquinas dug in with their usual repertoire of grit and
determination and forced all four remaining matches to a third set. Javier Munoz
'17 (Sevilla, Spain) won at second singles, 5-7, 6-2, 6-3 to get the ball rolling in the
Spartans' favor. Ferragut continued the scoring at third singles, and won his match
6-3, 1-6, 6-3 to narrow the Firebirds' lead to 4-3. Ferragut proved to be the lone
double-winner for STAC, and won his eighth consecutive singles match.
Needing two more wins to take the match, STAC ran out of steam in the final
two singles bouts. Almato and Aaron Stahl '18 (Dusseldorf, Germany) fought
valiantly at fifth and first singles, respectively, but both lost in the third set on a
beautiful, sunny day in the District. The only cloud in the sky was the one that
rained on the Spartans' comeback attempt.
STAC falls to 9-7 (2-1 ECC) on the year, while UDC improved to 4-8 (2-2 ECC).
The Spartans are back in action on Monday, April 18 for Senior Day against
conference foe Queens. First serve is scheduled for 2:00 PM.
University of the District of Columbia 6, St. Thomas Aquinas College 3
Singles
1. Rok Bozic (UDC) def. Aaron Stahl (STAC) – 2-6, 6-2, 7-5
2. Javier Munoz (STAC) def. Diego Pinto (UDC) – 5-7, 6-1, 6-3
3. Andreu Ferragut (STAC) def. Ander Murillo (UDC) – 6-3, 1-6, 6-3
4. Alexis Baguelin (UDC) def. Gilberto Lantigua (STAC) – 6-1, 6-0
5. Marco Feligioni (UDC) def. Roger Almato (STAC) – 7-5, 3-6, 6-2
6. Noppowat Satprertpry (UDC) def. Chris Jonas (STAC) – 6-2, 6-2
Doubles
1. Baguelin/Pinto (UDC) def. Stahl/Munoz (STAC) – 8-3
2. Ferragut/Almato (STAC) def. Bozic/Feligioni (UDC) – 8-4
3. Murillo/Satprertpry (UDC) def. Lantigua/Jonas (STAC) – 8-0