ResultsPhiladelphia, PA – The Wagner men's tennis team fell to American Athletic Conference member, Temple University, 7-0, on Sunday evening. With the loss, the Seahawks are 5-3 on the season while the Owls improve to 6-1 on season and winners of four straight matches.
Temple secured the first point of the match after the pairing of Uladzimir Dorash and Florian Meyers bested the dual of freshman Ilya Knepplehout (Woubrugge, Netherlands/Scala College Secondary School) and sophomore
Charlton Boyd (Shreveport, LA/Loyola College Prep), 6-3.
Wagner responded as the pairing of freshman
Eric Poland (Fort Meyers, FL/Bishop Verot) and
Dale Sandy (Durban, South Africa/Kersney College Secondary School) improved to 4-1 on the year as a pair as they picked up a 6-3 victory in No. 2 doubles over Hicham Belkssir and Vineet Naran.
The Owls secured the doubles point as Santiago Canete and Artem Kapshuk defeated freshman
Lucas Lu (Boca Raton, FL/Boca Prep International School) and sophomore
Allen Wang (Clovis, CA/Buchanan), 6-2.
In singles competition, Temple took wins at No. 4, No. 2 and clinched the match at No. 1. In No. 3 singles play, Poland put forth a valiant effort as he took on Nicolas Paulus. After dropping the first set, 6-2, Poland rallied in the second set, edging Paulus, 6-7 (6) to force a third set. Both Paulus and Poland had traded points before Paulus was able to close the match out, 10-7.
Similar to the Paulus/Poland match, Wang was in the midst of a back-and-forth battle in No. 6 play against Filip Stipcic. Stipcic took the first set, 6-0, but the sophomore Wang was able to take complete control in the second set, winning 6-1 forcing a third set. In the final set, the second-year Seahawk was able to execute at the net but was Stipcic seized control and earned a 10-4 victory.
The Seahawks will be back in action as its long road trip continues February 20 when the squad travels to Easton, PA to tangle with Patriot League member, Lafayette. The match is scheduled for a 2:30 p.m. start.
Be sure to follow Wagner Athletics on Facebook (facebook.com/WagnerAthletics), Twitter (@wagnerathletics), Instagram (@wagnerathletics) and YouTube (@WagnerSeahawks) for all the latest news and updates on the athletic department.
