HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. — The Marietta College men's tennis team closed out play in the Spring Tennis Fest with a 5-4 win over Nazareth College on Friday (March 15) afternoon. The Pioneers improve to 4-5 on the season, while Nazareth falls to 0-8 overall.
Marietta grabbed a 2-1 lead after doubles play with wins in the top two spots.
Jack Hirschfield (Marietta, Ohio/Marietta) and
Shane Spencer (Vermilion, Ohio/Vermilion) defeated Ryley Amond and Ryan Lalik at No. 1 by the score of 8-1. At No. 2,
Eric DeLong (Lowell, Ohio/Marietta) and Hangyang Zhang were 8-4 winners over William Britton and Dominic Vito.
Nazareth's Kellen Boyles and Patrick Dowdle beat
Bryce Emerick (Hyndman, Pa./HOPE for Hyndman Charter) and
Will Watson (Parkersburg, W.Va./Parkersburg), 8-4, to claim the Golden Flyers' first point.
Spencer and DeLong posted quick victories in their singles matches to give the Pioneers a 4-1 lead. Spencer downed Tommy Daviau at No. 1, 6-1 and 6-1, while Delong beat Britton at No. 3, 6-2 and 6-1.
Nazareth posted wins in each of the bottom three singles matches to even the team score, 4-4. At No. 4, Lalik topped Watson, 7-5 and 6-3. Dowdle needed three sets to get past Zhang at No. 5, 7-6, 6-7 (1-7) and 1-0 (10-6). At No. 6, Boyles beat Emerick, 6-2 and 7-5.
The match came down to No. 2 singles where Hirschfield was fighting arm problems in his battle with Tyler Luong. Luong took the first set 6-3 and Hirschfield leveled the match with a 6-3 win in the second set. Hirschfield secured the team victory with a 10-6 win in the third set.
Marietta returns home to open Ohio Athletic Conference play on Saturday (March 23) against Heidelberg at 1 p.m.
Fans can follow all the Pioneer teams all year long at
pioneers.marietta.edu. You can also follow the Pioneers on Facebook at
facebook.com/MariettaCollege and @MariettaPioneer on Twitter and Instagram.
