Orangeburg, N.Y. - The St. Thomas Aquinas College Men's Tennis team got back to work on Saturday evening, shutting out Manhattanville College 7-0 at Match Point Tennis Club.
STAC opened things up with a dominant performance in doubles play, taking three straight matchups to secure the team doubles point. The duo of Henry Ronnberg and Seth Newman cruised to a 6-0 victory at No. 2, followed by Lennart Lehmann and Ludovico Truffelli taking another 6-0 win at the No. 2 position. Tobias Fuerschuss and Don Vinz Lominoque closed things out with a 6-1 triumph.
Once the Spartans secured the doubles point, there was no turning back. St. Thomas Aquinas jumped right into singles play, taking all six singles matches from Manhattanville to secure a win on the day. Seth Newman started the victory spree in the No. 2 slot, taking a 6-0, 6-0 victory from Weston Goodwin. Alberto Espinosa Navarro followed the trend taking a 6-0, 6-0 victory in the No. 4 slot from Griffin Forberg to give the maroon and gold a commanding 3-0 lead roughly halfway through the evening. Newest Spartan Nathan Yacar took a 6-1, 6-1 win from Derwin Guzman in the No. 5 spot to clinch the overall team victory, opening the door for No. 6 Ivan Laiz (Win: 6-1, 6-0), No. 3 Henry Ronnberg (Win: 6-2, 6-2) and No. 1 Don Vinz Lominoque (Win: 6-2, 6-1) to keep the shutout victory intact.
Don Vinz Lominoque, Henry Ronnberg and Seth Newman all went 2-0 on the day, winning both their doubles and singles bouts against the Valiants.
STAC 7/MANHATTANVILLE 0 - OFFICIAL RESULTS
Order of Finish: 2, 3*, 1
SINGLES
"This was a good team effort tonight as all available players participated and secured wins", remarked Head Coach Dan Rockhill.
"I am happy for Nathan, who picked up his first collegiate win. He has been working extremely hard in practice and is building his own confidence. He is really going to help us."
"Seth was our Most Impactful Player tonight surrendering zero games in singles and doubles", said Rockhill. "He seems to get better each day and I think he has a chance to be at the very top of our singles lineup at some point."
"Alberto is another guy who is progressing. He has leaped forward and needs to be in our lineup somewhere."
"We have a lot of depth this year", stated Rockhill. "I have tried to lobby the NCAA to change the match format to 5 doubles and 10 singles matches for us but so far, no luck." The coaching staff has a lot of difficult decisions to make but it's a good problem to have."
"Jefferson is going to be a challenge next Saturday", said Rockhill. "They advanced to the final 16 last year and should be a force in the region this season as well. We are excited to find out how we compare to the best teams in the region."
UP NEXT
STAC hosts Jefferson University in battle between East Region Men's Tennis powers on Saturday, February 24 (6:45 p.m.) at Match Point Tennis Club in Orangeburg, N.Y.