Svenning, Wang among second day stars for the Bulldogs
NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Following Saturday's win over Stony Brook, the Yale men's tennis team improved its overall record to 9 - 3 on Sunday after posting a 7 - 2 victory over Marist and 8 - 0 victory over Fairleigh Dickinson. In sweeping the annual Yale Men's Tennis Invitational yet again, the Elis showed great poise and confidence against three opponents who were coming off solid victories.
Yale's match against Marist began on Saturday afternoon with eight singles matches, followed by a round of doubles on Sunday morning. The Bulldogs quickly established a lead in singles, with sophomore Tyler Lu, freshman Ziqi Wang, and freshman Stefan Doehler all winning comfortably in straight sets. The match looked to be in doubt, however, when Yale's Jason Brown dropped a tough match at #8 singles and many of the other matches entered a third set. For the second straight day, however, the Bulldogs showed great resilience in three set matches; junior Martin Svenning won his second straight three set match with a strong 6-2 third set, and sophomore Photos Photiades bounced back after losing a tight second set to close out his match 6-3, 4-6, 6-3. At No. 4 singles, Daniel Faierman also fought well in a tough third set loss to Marist's Joseph Dube (who has usually played near the top of Marist's singles lineup). Faierman was able to turn it around in doubles the following day, however, teaming up with Doehler at No. 2 doubles as Yale swept Marist in Sunday's doubles action.
If the Bulldogs were exhausted from their long match against Marist, they certainly didn't show it in the following match against Fairleigh Dickinson. In a match where Yale won relatively comfortably, sophomore Alex Hagermoser was a standout at No. 6 singles, dropping only two games on his way to victory. Martin Svenning, playing in the No. 1 singles position for just the second time this season, also impressed with a straight set win over FDU's Arvis Berzins, who entered their match on a five match win streak. Doehler also stepped up to the No. 3 singles position for the first time this season and performed well to extend his current win streak to five matches. Fairleigh Dickinson's only win of the day came at No. 2 doubles, as Yale's Photiades and Wang lost a tight 6-4 match that could have gone either way.
The Elis can't be disappointed with their results this past weekend, and are looking to carry their momentum over into their next match against Loyola Marymount on Mar. 14.
Report by Cameron Ferguson '18, Yale Sports Publicity
