Orangeburg, N.Y. – The St. Thomas Aquinas College Men's Tennis team opened its Spring 2025 season, dropping a 4-3 decision to perennial Division I Northeast power Fairleigh Dickinson University, on Saturday evening at Match Point Tennis Club in Orangeburg.
FDU opened the contest, taking the doubles point on the strength of sweep as No. 2 Thomas Linley & Gryffin Minor defeated Don Vinz Lominoque & Nagamitsu Kuroda, 6-2 followed by No. 3 Gareth Ong & Andrew Nicolae beating Erik Victor Tauson & Ondrej Sramek, 6-4 and finally No. 1 Joshua Oboniye & Tyler Crook winning against Seth Newman & Henry Ronnberg, 6-3.
In singles action, STAC got its first victory of the evening with No. 5 Ondrej Sramek downing Gareth Ong 6-1, 6-3. Then FDU's No. 2 Thomas Linley triumphed over Don Vinz Lominoque 6-4, 6-1. The Spartans returned the favor with back-to-back wins, as No. 4 Erik Victor Tauson beat Andrew Nicolae 6-4, 6-2 and No. 1. Seth Newman defeated Joshua Oboniya 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 to put the maroon and gold on the brink of victory. However, the Knights still had a little bit of magic left in its rackets, taking the final two matches with No. 3 Gryffin Minor takiing down Lorenzo Meschini 6-7 (3), 6-4, 6-3 and No. 6 Asf Schwartz besting Alberto Espinosa Navarro 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 to swipe the team win from hosts.
STAC 4/FDU 3 - OFFICIAL RESULTS
Order of Finish: 2, 3*, 1
SINGLES
Order of Finish: 5, 2, 4, 1, 3, 6*
"We did not play good doubles tonight," remarked Rockhill. "I believe that we will improve as the season progresses but FDU overpowered us and we did not play the correct way. We struggled to hold serve and played far too timidly. Competing better in the singles, we put ourselves in good position winning five of the six first sets. Unfortunately for us, FDU played the big points better than we did in the final sets. They made very few unforced errors and served extremely well. That was the difference. They are a really good team and I suspect they will go on and have a terrific season."
"It was nice to see Seth continue to play well after having a great fall," commented Rockhill. "He defeated a very strong FDU player. Victor also impressed me. He has been a terrific addition to the roster and should be one of the stronger rookies in the region."
"I am happy we have some time before our next match," said Rockhill. "We identified a lot to work on and the guys are hungry to improve."
UP NEXT
STAC hosts Lafayette College on Saturday, February 15 at Match Point Tennis Club with first serve scheduled for 6:45 p.m. in Orangeburg, N.Y.