Yale Beats Middle Tennessee State 4-3

NEW HAVEN, Conn. - After posting a 6-1 score against Army last weekend, the Yale men's tennis team played another strong match, beating the Middle Tennessee State  Blue Raiders 4-3 Saturday night at Cullman-Heyman Tennis Center.

The Bulldogs and Blue Raiders evenly split the singles matches, with Yale winning at spots No. 1, 3 and 5.  Sophomore Marc Powers easily defeated Middle Tennessee’s Shaun Waters at No. 1 (6-2, 6-4). At No. 3 singles, sophomore Daniel Hoffman also posted a strong showing against Matthew Langley (6-4, 7-5). Junior Joel Samaha earned Yale’s final singles point in a two set match against Dmitri Pippos (6-3,6-4).

Yale secured its victory by sweeping all three doubles matches to earn the doubles point. At No. 1, Powers and Samaha won a close match against Ben Davis and Shaun Waters by a 9-7 margin. Junior Erik Blumenkranz and Hoffman also impressed at No. 2 doubles, earning an 8-5 victory. To round out the doubles matches, senior captain Calvin Bennett and Huang won at No. 3 by a 9-7 score.

Yale’s victory boosts their record to an even 2-2. They look now to the ECAC Team Championships at Cambridge, Mass. on Friday.

report by Courtney Kaplan '13, Yale Sports Publicity