BROOKLINE, Mass. – The Newbury College men's tennis team opened the 2014 campaign with a 5-4 victory over non-conference rival Curry College, Thursday afternoon. First year Christian Repunte (Burlington, Mass.) began his collegiate career with an 8-1 victory over sophomore Toma Blatchford (Montreal, Quebec) to lead the Nighthawks to the win.

Partnering with junior Joey Verdon (Catskill, N.Y.) in second doubles, Repunte gave the Nighthawks an earlier 2-1 match advantage with an 8-3 victory in second doubles.  Junior Wayne Gethers (Cambridge, Mass.) and doubles partner sophomore, newcomer Antonios Tran (Chelsea, Mass.) worked quickly in third doubles with an 8-1 win. Blatchford and first year Valvel Temin (Swampscott, Mass.) picked up the lone Colonel win in doubles defeating seniors John Morgan (Cumberland, R.I.) and Gerard Font-Raventos (Barcelona, Spain), 8-2 in first doubles.

In the singles portion of the completion, Gethers had Frank LaMotte's number defeating the Maryland native, 8-1 in fourth singles. After Repunte pushed the Nighthawks lead to 4-1 with his win over Blatchford in first singles, the Colonels made a valiant comeback attempt. Senior Lucas Donaway (Foxboro, Mass.) edged out Verdon, 8-5, in third singles while Eric Hellberg claimed fifth singles, 8-3 to pull the Colonels to within one of the lead.

However, Tran shut the door holding off a late comeback by Temin for the 8-4 victory to seal the deal for the Nighthawks.

Newbury improves to 1-0 to start the season while Curry falls to 0-5. The Nighthawks will be back in action tomorrow afternoon, Friday March 21, when they host non-conference Johnson & Wales University at 4:00 p.m. in Chestnut Hill, Mass. The Colonels return to the courts this weekend, Saturday, March 22 against conference foe Wentworth Institute of Technology on the road in Boston, Mass.