NORTON, Mass. -- The Wheaton College (Mass.) men's tennis team won at first and second singles, but fell in its dual match with visiting Clark University, 7-2, this afternoon in New England Women's & Men's Athletic Conference play at the Clark Tennis Courts on the Wheaton campus in Norton, Mass.
The Lyons fall to 4-10 overall and 1-5 in the conference, while the Cougars improve to 4-8 and 2-4.
Despite the final score of the dual match, the play was much closer as evidenced by seven of the 15 sets between doubles and singles action being decided by just two games.
Clark swept doubles play and won four of six singles matches.
Wheaton seniors Josh Anschuetz (West Bloomfield, Mich.), Ethan Na (Simbury, Conn.), Jack Luyrink (Paxton, Mass.), Chris Register (Portland, Maine) and Gabriel Fellows (Middletown, R.I.) were all honored on Senior Day for the Lyons.
Anschuetz and Na each won at the top of the singles lineup for Wheaton.
Anschuetz cut the deficit to 4-1 for the Lyons with a 6-3, 6-3 victory at number one singles over senior Dariy Vykhodtsev (Saco, Maine), while Na gave Wheaton the win at number two singles to pull them to within 4-2 in the match after he defeated junior Tanner Honnef (Camarillo, Calif.) in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3.
First year Graham Russo (Bridgewater, Mass.), sophomore Ryan Hovey (Newburgh, N.Y.) and senior Matt Lee (Marlborough, Mass.) were all double-winners for Clark.
Russo combined with Vykhodtsev to outlast the Wheaton tandem Anschuetz and Luyrink 8-7 (5) at number one doubles. Hovey and Honnef teamed at second doubles to earn an 8-5 victory over the Lyon pairing of Na and sophomore Daniel Bor (Seattle, Wash.). Graduate student Max Schweitzer (West Hartford, Conn.) joined Lee to score an 8-6 triumph at number three doubles over Fellows and junior Eli Hanlon (Branford, Conn.).
Russo added another win in singles play for the Cougars with a 6-4, 6-4 straight set decision at number three over Bor, while Hovey was the winner at fourth singles over Hanlon, 6-3, 7-6, for the visitors. Lee picked up his second win and the match's fifth deciding point with a 6-2, 7-5 effort at fifth singles over Wheaton's Luyrink. Sophomore Aidan Hurtado (Atlanta, Ga.) earned a 6-3, 6-3 result at sixth singles for Clark over Register.
The Lyons return to the courts tomorrow when they host University of Massachusetts Boston at 4:00 p.m. in their season finale, while the Cougars host Colby-Sawyer College at 4:00 p.m. on April 14.
