Svenning Clinches 4-3 Win over Buffalo

NEW HAVEN, Conn. – The Yale men's tennis team raised its level of play when it mattered most on Saturday, as the squad narrowly defeated Buffalo in its first match of the 2015 regular season.  The Bulldogs played host to a game Buffalo team, and were made to earn every point of their 4-3 victory. 

The Elis soared to a perfect start by claiming all three doubles matches.  Playing at No. 1 doubles, senior Daniel Faierman and sophomore Tyler Lu defeated Damien David and Amar Hromic of Buffalo, 6-3.  The No. 3 all-freshman tandem of Fedor Andrienko and Stefan Doehler displayed good teamwork in a 6-4 victory over Pablo Alvarez and Sebastien Ionescu.  Yale's No. 2 team of junior Martin Svenning and freshman Ziqi Wang completed the sweep by overcoming Sergio Arevalillo and Jonathan Hannestad in a tiebreaker, 7-6.

As the contest's attention shifted to singles, the match became very competitive, with both teams trading wins.  Playing at No. 1 singles, Lu pulled through for the Bulldogs with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over David.  This win served to counterbalance Alvarez's 6-4, 6-4 upset of No. 95-ranked Wang at No. 2 singles.  Doehler added a win for the Elis by defeating Akhil Mehta 6-0, 6-3 at the No. 6 spot.  With the overall score tied at three points apiece, Svenning and his opponent, Hromic, entered a third set at No. 4 singles.  Svenning fended off a Hromic comeback to record a 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 victory and clinch the Bulldogs' first triumph of the season in as many matches.

Full results from Saturday's match against Buffalo can be found below.

Yale also began its match against Colgate on Saturday afternoon, and will conclude this encounter on Sunday with doubles at 9:00 a.m. at the Cullman-Heyman Tennis Center.  The Bulldogs are then scheduled to commence their match against Monmouth at 10:00 a.m.

Report by Robert Batista '15, Yale Sports Publicity