MTEN | Gaels Cap Opening Weekend With Win Over Fresno State
1/20/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
MORAGA, Calif. -- Freshman Nathan Lewis provided the match-clinching point and the Saint Mary's men's tennis team wrapped up a successful opening weekend of the 2014 season with a 4-3 win over Fresno State at Korth Tennis Complex.
With the win, Saint Mary's improves to 2-0 on the young season. The Gaels defeated Cal Poly 6-1 on Friday to kick off the new campaign. Fresno State falls to 1-1 with the defeat.
For the second straight match, Saint Mary's got started with a strong showing in doubles. The Gaels earned the first point of the day thanks to a 6-3 win by Joakim Norstrom and Wil Martin at No. 1 and a 6-4 victory at No. 2 by Thomas Alexander Hunt and Samuel Bloore.
Had one of those two not won, the No. 3 team of Tuomas Manner and James Markiewicz had it covered on their end. The duo had match point when the deciding point was scored on another court, so the match was halted with Saint Mary's in the lead. Despite not getting the point themselves, it was the second straight strong match for Manner and Markiewicz, who also did not score on Friday despite playing well.
Manner carried that strong play to the singles court just like he did Friday, cruising to a 6-2, 6-3 victory over John Darmstaedter at No. 2. Hunt also put forth a second-straight strong singles showing, defeating Eric Komati 6-3, 6-4 at No. 4 to improve to 2-0 on the spring.
Fresno State battled to stay in the match, winning at No. 1 and 6 to square the match at 3-all. The win at No. 1 was especially tough, as Sam McNeil edged Joakim Norstrom 6-5, 6-4 in a hard-fought match on both sides.
The match came down to Court 5, where Lewis battled with Nikolas Papic. The Gaels freshman cruised to a straight-sets victory on Friday against Cal Poly, and he appeared well on his way again Sunday with a 6-0 win in the first set. Papic fought back, taking the second set 6-3 to force a decisive third.
That's where Lewis showed his resolve, and the native of New South Wales, Australia made short work of his opponent in the third, taking the set 6-2 to earn the match-clinching victory.
"The lads played very well and competed very hard to pull out the match today," Saint Mary's coach Michael Wayman said. "I'm very pleased with the way they played."
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