Newport News, Va. - The 32nd-ranked Battling Bishop men's tennis team upset a pair of nationally-ranked opponents over the weekend, cruising past #28 CNU, 7-2, and then stunning #15 Case Western Reserve, 5-4.
Versus #28 CNU on Friday, senior Sebastian Sikh partnered with junior Ioannis Brokakis at #1 doubles to post an 8-6 victory over the Captain duo of Justin Cerny/David Reed. Junior J.D. Telles and freshman Aditya Iyer also teamed for a key win at the #2 seed, 8-2, while Newport avoided the doubles sweep with a win at #3 by the same score.
In singles play, Sikh cruised to a straight-set win over Reed, who is currently ranked #36 nationally (6-1, 6-3). Iyer and Telles were also winners in straights at #3 and #4, with freshman Roberto Puig and senior David Chang bouncing back from their doubles loss to post wins at #5 and #6 singles, respectively. CNU's lone point in singles action came at the #2 slot where Cerny defeated Brokakis with a 12-10 superset win in the third (4-6, 7-6, 12-10).
Against #15 CWRU on Saturday, the Spartan tandem of James Fojtasek/Matthew Chen edged Sikh/Brokakis by a 9-7 score and took a 2-1 lead into singles play after Neil Mabee/Jonathan Powell downed NCWC's Puig/Chang, 8-3. Iyer and Telles secured Wesleyan's lone point at #2 with an 8-3 win of their own.
Sikh (6-2, 6-2) and Ayer (6-2, 6-3) were straight-set winners at #1 and #3 singles to get the Bishops back in the match. CWRU's Sam Concannon's win at #6 knotted the score at 3-3 with a trio of three-set matches still on the courts. At #2, Chen escaped Brokakis, only to see Puig pick up his teammate at #5. Both matches featured 6-2 scores in the third set.
With the overall score knotted at 4-4, Telles and the Spartans' Anthony Kanam battled it out for the team win. Telles had taken the first set by a 7-5 score, with Kanam evening the match with a 6-3 win in the second. Tied 6-6 in the third set, Telles earned the victory for NCWC with a tiebreak win (3) that ignited a Bishop celebration.
Now riding a three-match winning streak, the Bishops (3-2) travel to perennial powerhouse Emory University next Saturday for a regional match-up with the Eagles. The match is slated for an 11:00am start in Atlanta.
