OLD WESTBURY, NY – Despite dropping their match at New York Institute of Technology 8-1, the St. Thomas Aquinas College men's tennis team has a lot to celebrate. The Spartans have earned a berth in the East Coast Conference tournament as the number four seed.
Despite the large deficit, the Spartans again used their familiar tenacity to give the nationally-ranked #34 Bears a good match. The lone point-scorer for STAC was Adreu Ferragut '18 (Palma de Mallorca, Spain), who defeated East Region #9 David Jiang in straight sets, 6-3, 6-4. The sophomore Spaniard deftly maneuvered around any of Jiang's tactics to earn his tenth consecutive victory in single play, and was one of only two athletes in the conference to go a perfect 5-0 in ECC action. For the season, Ferragut has a gaudy 16-4 singles record, and Saturday's victory was his second win of the season against a regionally ranked opponent.
Roger Almato '19 (Vic, Spain) continued to grind out points at the number five spot, but ultimately fell in the third set super-tiebreaker. Javier Munoz '17 (Sevilla, Spain) and Aaron Stahl '18 (Dusseldorf, Germany) gave it a go a first doubles, but came up just short with an 8-6 loss against the East Region #6 doubles pairing of Tomas Lieb and Alex Martinez.
The Spartans are back in action on Monday, April 25 as they wrap up their regular season schedule with a home match against Rockland Community College. First serve is set for 3:00 PM, weather permitting.
NYIT 8, STAC 1
Singles
1. Matej Selecky (NYIT) def. Aaron Stahl (STAC) – 6-3, 6-0
2. Rafal Charkiewicz (NYIT) def. Javier Munoz (STAC) – 7-5, 6-2
3. Andreu Ferragut (STAC) def. David Jiang (NYIT) – 6-3, 6-4
4. Tomas Lieb (NYIT) def. Gilberto Lantigua (STAC) – 6-0, 6-1
5. Jamie Salvador (NYIT) def. Roger Almato (STAC) – 3-6, 6-1, 1-0 (10)
6. Kevin Huynh (NYIT) def. Chris Jonas (STAC) – 6-3, 6-1
Doubles
1. Lieb/Alex Martinez (NYIT) def. Stahl/Munoz (STAC) – 8-6
2. Jiang/Selecky (NYIT) def. Ferragut/Almato (STAC) – 8-3
3. Rares Ispas/Charkiewicz (NYIT) def. Lantigua/Jonas (STAC) – 8-1
Order of Finish: Doubles (3, 2, 1) Singles (4, 6, 1, 3, 2, 5)