Wagner vs. Marist Results
Wagner vs. Fordham Results
 
White Plains, NY – The Wagner men's tennis team played two matches against members of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) and Atlantic 10 Conference on Sunday at Life Time Fitness in White Plains, NY. The Seahawks were shutout by the Marist, 5-0 and edged by the Fordham University Rams, 3-2.
 
Wagner now stands at 6-5 overall while Marist improves to 5-2 and Fordham evens out its record to 4-4.
 
"We scheduled a tough non-conference spring schedule to help us get ready for conference play," commented first-year head coach Jason Sinkoff. "This team has a lot of heart and fight and as a coach, you couldn't ask for much more than that." 
 
Wagner vs. Marist Recap
In the lone doubles match of the day against the Red Foxes, the pairing of freshman Eric Poland (Fort Meyers, FL/Bishop Verot) and sophomore Allen Wang (Clovis, CA/Buchanan) fought valiantly against Joe Motta/Fredrik Bjerke before being edged by the Marist duo, 6-4; 6-2.
 
In singles action, freshman Dale Sandy (Durban, South Africa/Kersney College Secondary School) was able to take the first set, 3-6 against Justin Chanthalangsy.  Chanthalangsy rallied back in the second set for a 6-3 win, setting up a thrilling third set in which Sandy and Chanthalangsy left it all on the court before Chanthalangsy was able to pick up the victory, 10-6.
 
Marist ultimately took No. 2, No. 3 and No. 4 singles matches to earn the 5-0 overall win.
 
"I was pleased with the effort that our guys showed against Marist," Sinkoff remarked. "We just dug ourselves into too many holes early and weren't able to battle all the way back. Our team never wavered and kept fighting all the way to the end."
 
Wagner vs. Fordham Recap
Against the Rams, the Seahawks were able to get out to a much better start, securing the lone double matches as Wang was paired with sophomore Charlton Boyd (Shreveport, LA/Loyola College Prep) as the two defeated the combo of Joseph Kavaloski and Cameron Posillico, 6-1; 6-3.
 
Fordham was able to take victories at No. 1 and No. 2 singles action before Wagner's freshman Ilya Kneppelhout (Woubrugge, Netherlands/Scala College Secondary School) defeated Pedro Alonso, 6-3; 6-2, evening out the overall match at 2-2 in No. 3 singles. For Kneppelhout, the first-year Seahawk picked up his team-leading ninth singles victory of the year, running his overall record to 9-3 while improving to 6-2 in dual matches on the season. 
 
In the deciding match at No. 4 singles, Poland was pitted against Nick Borak.  Borak had taken the first set 6-4 before Poland was able to take the second set but a similar 6-4 tally, forcing the second three-set match of the day for Wagner. In the final set, both student-athletes were able to find their groove before Borak pulled away with a 6-4 win, giving the Rams the match.
 
"Losing a close one to Fordham, or any opponent, is very tough and not a good feeling," Sinkoff said. "I told my guys that when this moment comes again, we will use this experience to persevere and come out on the right side of things. We battled and we look to correct our mistakes as we get ready for our next match."
 
The Seahawks will continue its lengthy road trip as they travel to Philadelphia, PA to tangle with Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) members, Drexel University, on March 5 at 1:30 p.m

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