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Springfield, Mass. (April 12, 2006) – Behind a very strong performance by senior Matt Nakagawa, the U.S. Coast Guard Academy men’s tennis team defeated Springfield College, 5-2, in a New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) match this afternoon at SC’s Appleton Courts.
With the win, Coast Guard is now 6-4 overall and 2-1 in the NEWMAC, while Springfield falls to 2-6 overall, 0-3 in the conference.
It looked as though Springfield was going to take a 1-0 lead following doubles play. No. 1 and No. 2 doubles split and SC led 7-4 at No. 3 doubles. But the team of freshman Lynn Schrayshuen (Manlius, N.Y.) and senior Cheryl Hickey (Columbia,, Md.) refused to die, and eventually came back to post a 9-8 (7-4) tie-break victory over sophomore Guy Lepore (Bay Shore, N.Y.) and freshman Bobby Schlink (Quaker Hill, Conn.). The best 2 out of 3 went Coast Guard’s way, and the Bears led, 1-0.
SC came back to matters at 1-all when junior Ethan Clime (Bristol, Maine) defeated Hickey, 3-2, who was forced to retire at No. 3 singles.
But Coast Guard posted two more victories fairly quickly. One of those was by Nakagawa, a senior from Kaneohe, Hawaii, by a score of 6-3, 6-1, over SC senior Justin Freitas (East Providence, RI) at No. 1 singles. The other came at No. 5 singles as senior Dan Lavinder (Richmond, Va.) easily handled Lepore, 6-1, 6-0.
A win by SC sophomore Joe Lisi (Southbridge, Mass.), 6-4, 7-6 (10-8 in the tiebreaker), cut the margin to 3-2 in favor of the Bears.
But Coast Guard was able to wrap it up as sophomore Ryan Beck (Freehold, N.J.) made a nice comeback at No. 2 singles against freshman Andrew Constant (Kingston, N.Y.). Constant had won the first set 7-5, and was leading 5-2 in the second, and later 6-5 in that same set. But Beck forced a tiebreaker, winning it 7-3, and then won the last set, 6-3. That proved to be the clincher.
Moments later, Coast Guard’s Schrayshuen defeated sophomore Dave Keenan (Scarborough, Maine) at No. 6 singles, 7-5, 4-6, 6-4, to add to the victory total.
Springfield will host NEWMAC-foe Wheaton Saturday (April 15) at 1 pm.
Coast Guard 5, Springfield 2
The match began with doubles play.
Singles
1) Matt Nakagawa (CGA) def. Justin Freitas (SC), 6-3, 6-1
2) Ryan Beck (CGA) def. Andrew Constant (SC), 5-7, 7-6 (3), 6-3
3) Ethan Clime (SC) def. Cheryl Hickey (CGA), 3-2 retired
4) Joe Lisi (SC) def. Tom Brittingham (CGA), 6-4, 7-6 (8)
5) Dan Lavinder (CGA) def. Guy Lepore (SC), 6-1, 6-0
6) Lynn Schrayshuen (CGA) def. Dave Keenan (SC), 7-5, 4-6, 6-4
Doubles
1) Beck-Nakagawa (CGA) def. Constant-Freitas (SC), 8-4
2) Clime-Lisi (SC) def. Brittingham-Lavinder (CGA), 8-6
3) Hickey-Schrayshuen (CGA) def. Lepore-Bobby Schlink (SC), 9-8 (4)
published: 04/13/2006
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