The Rensselaer men’s tennis team won all its matches over the past week, defeating rival Union 4-2 on Wednesday, March 30, in Schenectady, N.Y., before sneaking past St. John Fisher with a brilliant 4-3 come-from-behind victory on Sunday, April 3, in Pittsford, N.Y., and beat Hamilton 4-3 on Tuesday, April 5.
Against St. John Fisher, RPI lost the doubles point but rallied with singles wins from Joe Byrne, Joe Black, Mike Heligman, and Amadeus Lopez.
Heligman rallied to defeat Aaron Haak in the number one singles match. After dropping the first set in a tiebreaker 6-7 (4), Heligman took the second 6-4 and then repaid Haak the favor, by beating the Cardinal in a tiebreaker 7-6 (6).
Byrne and Lopez found themselves in similar situations in the three and four singles matches. Jason Fiume won the first set 6-3 against Byrne, but the junior stormed back, taking the next two tightly contested sets 7-5 and 6-3. Lopez also dropped the first set 3-6, but managed to squeak out a victory, winning the second set 7-5 before taking the third set in a tiebreaker 7-6 (6). Black was the only member of RPI who won the first set of their match as he won his match 7-5, 6-4.
In the Union match, a different set of characters stepped up for RPI. Ranjeet Minocha in second singles came back to win 1-6, 6-1 (10-8), Aashish Kabra in third singles won 6-1, 6-4, and Sharran Deora in number four singles took the match in three sets 7-6, 7-2, 6-2.
The Engineers defeated the Hamilton Continentals thanks in large part to winning the doubles point. RPI also got wins from Heligman at number one singles, Minocha at second singles, and Lopez at the fourth singles spot.
The men’s tennis team improved to 6-0 on the season going into home matches with Oneonta State and Manhattanville this Friday and Saturday at the Sharp Courts. Friday’s contest against the Red Dragons starts at 4 pm while Saturday’s competition against the Valiants begins at 2 pm.
Weather slows Engineers
Substantial rain delayed the Rensselaer men’s and women’s outdoor track & field squads’ opening meet against Springfield College from Saturday to yesterday at 3:30 pm at Springfield. Results were not available at the time of publication. The Engineers will have their next meet today, April 6, at Hamilton in Clinton, N.Y., at 4 pm, before traveling to the Engineers’ Cup in Cambridge, Mass.
