NEW HAVEN, Conn. - In the Yale Men's Tennis Team's last match before starting the Ivy League Season, the Bulldogs showed that they are ready for competition by defeating the Sacred Heart Pioneers 5-2. Tuesday's win moves the Bulldogs record to 8-7 for the spring season, and highlights great performances by many Elis.

The Bulldogs began the match by sweeping all three doubles matches to take the doubles point. Junior Erik Blumenkranz has proved a valuable doubles player for the Bulldogs, and his win at No. 2 doubles with classmate Joel Samaha continues his winning streak at eight matches.

The Bulldogs played well in singles as well, winning four of six matches. Sophomore Daniel Hoffman won his match at No. 2 singles against Sacred Heart's Nick Mazzarese in a quick two sets (6-2, 6-2). Hoffman's winning streak is now nine matches strong. Hoffman is on par to beat his own record from the fall season of 11 consecutive victories.

Samaha won the closest match of the day, edging out Pioneer Michael Syer at No. 3 with a 7-5, 7-5 score. At No. 4, Blumenkranz showed his talents as a singles player as well, and defeated Sacred Heart's Cole Conrad by a 6-2, 6-1 score. At No. 6 singles, senior captain Calvin Bennett defeated Jacob Miller, dropping only one game in the entire match.

At No. 1 singles, sophomore Marc Powers lost a close match against Sacred Heart's Kirill Kasyanov after splitting sets. Kasyanov is now a senior for the Pioneers, and won a league high 23 matches last season. He helped lead his team to victory to win the Northeast Conference Championship for the first time ever in 2009.

The Bulldogs will have the weekend off to get ready for their Ivy Season. Their next match will be against Penn on April 1 at 2p.m at the Cullman Heyman tennis facility.

report by Courtney Kaplan '13, Yale Sports Publicity