NORTON, Mass. – The Wheaton College (Mass.) men's tennis team defeated visiting United States Coast Guard Academy, 6-1, this afternoon in a New England Women's & Men's Athletic Conference contest at Clark Tennis Courts on the Wheaton campus in Norton, Mass.
The Lyons have won two of their last three and improve to 4-10 overall and 3-4 in league play, while the Bears finish their season at 2-14 and 1-6. The match was the regular season finale for both squads. The result marked the first win over Coast Guard for the Lyons since a 6-3 triumph on March 29, 2014. Wheaton earned a playoff spot in the upcoming NEWMAC Championship Tournament as the number five seed and will take on fourth-seeded Clark University in Worcester, Mass. on Wednesday, April 23.
The Lyons honored their lone senior, Daniel Bor (Seattle, Wash.) in a ceremony prior to the match.
Wheaton won two of three doubles matches to earn the first point of the dual match and took five of six singles for the match victory.
The Lyons' third doubles tandem of Bor and sophomore Paul Berteaux (Courbevoie, France) earned a 6-2 victory over the Bears duo of junior Logan Kwon (University Place, Wash.) and first year Anthony Gregoire (Hagatna, Guam). Wheaton's sophomore pairing of Jake Murray (San Diego, Calif.) and Calvin Van Dyke (Albuquerque, N.M.) clinched the doubles point for the home team with a 6-4 triumph at number two doubles over junior Benjamin Carlander (Monument, Colo.) and sophomore Noah Reice (Wilmington, Del.).
Bor won the first singles match of the day in just 47 minutes with a 6-0, 6-1 showing at number six for the Lyons over Kwon and Murray dispatched of Carlander at fourth singles in straight sets, 6-2, 6-4. Van Dyke earned a 6-1, 6-4 victory at fifth singles for Wheaton over Reice to give the Lyons the fourth point of the match to clinch the win and the playoff berth.
Berteaux battled to a 7-5 first set win for Wheaton over junior Brendan Love (Winchester, Va.) at second singles, before settling in and cruising to a 6-0 second set decision to gain the win and give the Lyons a 5-0 lead. First year Pablo Munoz (Paris, France) won the final match of the day for Wheaton at number three singles over Gregoire. Munoz won a grueling opening set, 7-6 (7), before outlasting Gregoire, 7-5 in the second frame.
Coast Guard gained its only point of the afternoon at number one singles. Sophomore Ben Bonetto (Bend, Ore.) defeated Lyon sophomore Jaime Galligo (Madrid, Spain), 6-2 in the first set and was leading 4-2 in the second frame, before Galligo was forced to retire with an injury.
The Bears' only doubles win came at number one doubles with Bonetto and Love combining for a hard-fought 7-6 (5) result over Galligo and Munoz.
