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Fairfield, CT - The Wagner men's tennis team remain undefeated in dual matches this fall season after picking a thrilling 4-3 victory over Fairfield University on Saturday afternoon.
The Green & White finished the fall dual match season at a perfect 5-0 while the Stags fall to 1-1.
"Fairfield is a good team and every match today could have gone either way," commented head coach Jason Sinkoff. "Our team stepped up by not letting the moment get too big. Our squad was able to just take it one point at a time and I'm very proud of my guys performance today."
The Stags took an early advantage as Dylan Appel/Anthony Caputo bested sophomore
Eric Poland (Fort Meyers, FL/Bishop Verot) and freshman
Siddharth Anand (New Delhi, India/Modern School Barakhamba Road), 6-2.
The Green & White's pairing of sophomores
Anatoliy Lashkul (Kiev, Ukraine/High School #78) and
Dale Sandy (Durban, South Africa/Kersney College Secondary School) defeated Brad Orban/Tyler Shibles, 6-3, at No. 1 doubles.
The deciding match for the first point came down to No. 2 doubles, in which Wagner sent sophomore
Ilya Kneppelhout (Woubrugge, Netherlands/Scala College Secondary School) and junior
Charlton Boyd (Shreveport, LA/Loyola College Prep) took on Ethan Ammon/Jeffrey Rodgers. A back-and-forth, evenly contested match worked in the Seahawks favor, as Kneppelhout/Boyd took a 7-6 (7-5) win, giving the Seahawks a 1-0 lead in the overall match.
Singles matches opened with the visiting Seahawks taking a 2-0 advantage as Poland defeated Ammon, 7-6 (7-4), 6-2 at No. 4 singles. Fairfield got on the board with a win at No. 3 singles as Caputo was able to best Kneppelhout, 6-3, 7-6 (7-2). Wagner increased its lead to 3-1 after freshman
Hans Ohrner (Margate, FL/Coral Springs Christian Academy) defeated Shibles in No. 5 singles, 6-3, 4-6, 6-2.
The Stags rallied, though, taking No. 2 and No. 1 singles matches, as Rodgers defeated Sandy, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 and Orban defeated Lashkul, 6-1, 3-6, 6-2, setting up the deciding match at No. 6. Boyd, who is Wagner's all-time leader in singles win, was matched up against Appel in No. 6 single to decide the winner of Saturday afternoon's contest.
After taking the first set, 7-5, Boyd dropped the second set, 4-6, setting the stage for a third set to decide a winner.The third-year Seahawk was able to regain his composure and propelled his team to the win, 6-1, which kept Wagner's undefeated streak intact. For Boyd, he picked up his 43rd career singles victory while improving to 5-1 while competing out of the No. 6 position and a perfect 4-0 this season.
"Charlton played the pressure points great today," Sinkoff said. "He was up 2-1 in the third set and was able to elevate his game to another level. I am really proud of how he was able to compete and lift us to victory."
Wagner concludes the fall portion of its schedule at the ITA Regional Tournament, held in Philadelphia, PA from October 20 through October 26.
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