DUDLEY, Mass. - The Wheaton College (Mass.) men's tennis team pushed Nichols College to the brink, but ultimately fell to the Bison by a score of 4-3 on Thursday afternoon in Dudley.
The loss saw the Lyons fall to 1-1 in team play during the fall, while the Bisons picked up their first win to improve to 1-2 in the fall.
The number two doubles match was the first to finish up as senior
Jake Murray (San Diego, Calif.) and junior
Luis Adrian Gomez Tinoco (Mexico City, Mexico) were topped by the Bison duo of Rodolfo Hernandez (Fraijanes, Guatemala) and Arthur Santos (Mairinque, Brazil) 6-1.
The other two doubles matches went nearly an hour as sophomore
Landon Wyshner (Winston Salem, N.C.) and senior
Jaime Gálligo (Madrid, Spain) battled it out with Pablo Carrascosa (Barcelona, Spain) and Felipe Gonzalez (Lanzarote, Spain) in the number one match. The Lyons' tandem was able to force a tiebreaking point after a match that was even the entire way through. The extra point was taken by the Bison for a 7-6, and the Lyons lost the doubles point to their hosts.
The number three doubles match saw another evenly matched contest as the Wheaton combo of junior
Pablo Munoz (Paris, France) and first year
Pablo Paniagua (Mexico City, Mexico) tallied with Mason Harris (Cranston, R.I.) and Jodha Singh (San Antonio, Texas). The Lyons jumped out in front to a 2-0 lead, but the Bison were able to wedge their way into the conversation to force another tiebreaker. This time the Lyons prevailed to take a 7-6 win, but the team point was already decided.
Paniagua was the first to finish his singles match as the number five contest was wrapped up in straight sets. Santos was the victor by a score of 6-2 in each set as he took home the first singles point for Nichols, making it a 2-0 score overall.
Gomez Tiroco was the next Lyons single to finish up as he took down Hernandez in straight sets. The Wheaton rookie had to tighten his grip on his racket as Hernandez made things closer in the first set, but Gomez Tiroco survived the surge to win 6-4. The next set saw him relax a bit more as he took a 6-2 win over Hernandez to make the score 2-1 overall.
Mumoz had a massive 6-1 in the first set of his number three singles match as he jumped ahead of Singh. Munoz's opponent was much better in the second set as they went the distance and forced a tiebreaker. Munoz won the extra point to take a 7-5 win and make it 2-2 overall.
Wyshner had a performance that was eerily similar to Munoz in the number two singles match. Gonzalez found himself in a big hole early as Wyshner quickly claimed the first set 6-2. Gonzalez cleaned up his game in the second set, and again forced a tiebreaking point. Just like Munoz, Wyshner was able to outlast his opponent to take the extra point and win the second set 7-6. The Lyons took a 3-2 lead into the final pair of singles matches.
Calvin Van Dyke (Albuquerque, N.M.) had a great start to the number six singles match as he shutout Andrew Emmel (Forestdale, Mass.) 6-0 in the first set. The tables turned quickly, however, and the Lyons senior dropped the second set 6-4 to force a winner-takes-all third set. Emmel played his best tennis of the contest in that set and cruised to a 6-2 win to tie the contest at 3-3 overall.
Gálligo was the last man to finish for the Lyons, and he fought until the bitter end. Another hot start for a Wheaton player saw him jump ahead to a 6-3 win in the opening frame. Carrascosa came alive in the second set and cruised to a 6-2 win to force a third set. The fate of the match hung on that set, and while Gálligo played valiantly, the match ultimately went to Carrascosa and the Bison.
Both teams will take the remainder of the winter off as they prepare for the spring slate of matches in the spring.
