QUINCY, Mass. - The Eastern Nazarene men’s tennis team held on to defeat The Commonwealth Coast Conference (TCCC) opponent Curry College, 5-4, Saturday afternoon at ENC’s Campus Courts. With the win, the Lions improve to 8-6 on the season and 4-5 in TCCC play while the loss drops Curry to 1-8 overall and 1-6 in conference.
Eastern Nazarene grabbed control of the match in doubled play as the Lions grabbed all three matches. Austin Steelman and Brandon Lum defeated Tyler Dulmage and Tyler Collins in the #1 slot, 8-3. Tim Luz and Eric Johnson teamed up to beat Charlie Edlund and J.D. Moyer in the #2 matchup, 8-3; and Nick Thompson and Ryan Robbins rolled to victory over Robert Rosenbaum and Thomas Bagley, 8-1.
It appeared as if Eastern Nazarene was on its way to an easy victory after doubles play, and Steelman’s defeat of Dulmage at #1 singles put the Lions further ahead, 4-0. But Curry fought its way to victory in the next four singles matchups to draw even at 4-4 with just the #6 singles left to finish.
Edlund pulled out the tiebreaker against Lum to win 6-3, 7-6 (5) giving then Colonels their first point of the day. Moyer and Luz played a lengthy match, splitting the first two sets. The third set was even closer than the previous two but it was Moyer who came out on top to keep Curry’s hopes alive.
Collins picked up the win against Johnson 6-3, 6-4 before Rosenbaum came back after dropping the first set to defeat Thompson 3-6, 6-1, 6-2.
In the final matchup of the day, Robbins made only a handful of unforced errors in defeating Bagley, 6-1, 6-1, to win the match for Eastern Nazarene.
The Lions have won four of their last five matches and will try to keep their momentum rolling as they travel to TCCC foe Regis College on Tuesday for a 3:30 PM match. The Colonels will rest Sunday before traveling to Gordon College on Monday for a 4:00 PM match. (Match recap courtesy of ENC Sports Information)
