Battling Bishop men's tennis stuns #22 Salisbury, downs NYU

Salisbury, MD - Sophomore Antti Saari went 2-0 at #1 singles to help lead his Battling Bishop men's tennis squad to two thrilling 5-4 wins over the weekend at Salisbury University. Wesleyan downed NYU on Friday before stunning the 22nd-ranked Sea Gulls on Sunday. NCWC is off to a 3-0 start.

In Sunday's doubles action, Salisbury recorded wins at top two seeds as Scott Burtzlaff/Evan Thomas defeated Saari/Alexey Rumyantsev (8-5) and Daniel Barnas/Andrew Nottage downed Davit Minasyan/Marcelo Prata (8-4). Wesleyan’s lone point came at the 3rd slot where Ilpo Kautonen/Anton Filonov took down David Lupinetti/Marcus Robinson (8-6).

Down 2-1 entering singles play, the Bishops tied the score at 2-2 when Fred Lemongo defeated Sasha Felikson (6-2, 6-4) at #6 singles. The two teams traded points on the next two pairings as SU’s Nottage downed Filonov (6-3, 6-2) at the 5th seed and NCWC’s Rumyantsev took down Thomas at the #2 spot (6-2, 6-1). Salisbury took its final lead of the day when Barnes won at #4 singles over Prata (6-4, 6-0).

Wesleyan tied the match at 4-4 when Saari forced a third set against Burtzlaff. Saari won the match
6-1, 2-6, 6-2, which set up a decisive match-up between Minasyan and Lupinetti at the 3rd seed. Lupinetti won the first set in a tiebreaker 6-7 (7-5), but Minasyan battled back to sweep the second set 6-0. He then held on for a 6-3 win in the third set to give NCWC the team victory.

On Friday, it was the Battling Bishops who took a 2-1 lead in doubles action as Saari/Rumyantsev downed Patrick Whitner/Alex Stoler (8-2) and Kautonen/Filonov cruised past Eugene Tsarevskiy/ Matthew Gross (8-1).

Saari and Rumyantsev were both straight-set winners at the top two slots in singles play, while Filonov's victory over Tsarevskiy at the 5th seed decided the match.

Wesleyan returns to action on Tuesday at Division II Barton College. The match is slated to begin at 2:30 p.m. in Wilson.