MIDDLETON, Mass. – Trailing 4-3 with two matches remaining, the Western New England University men's tennis team picked up wins at No. 1 and No. 6 singles to take a 5-4 win over Wentworth Institute of Technology in a Commonwealth Coast Conference match at the Northeast Tennis Center.
With the win the Golden Bears improve to 8-8 overall and 2-5 in CCC play while the Leopards fall to 3-8 (2-5).
Western New England took a 2-1 lead after doubles play, however Wentworth took a 1-0 lead when freshman Alex Mularski (Auburn, Mass.) and senior Thinh Dang (Boston, Mass.) took an 8-2 win at No. 3 over sophomore Michael Tran (West Haven, Conn.) and freshman Griffin Arnold (Meriden, Conn.). The Golden Bears took the next two doubles flights with freshman David Kalmer (Slingerlands, N.Y.) and sophomore Justin Kohut (South Windsor, Conn.) defeating senior Matthew Smith (Pelham, N.H.) and junior Jeff Tocco (Plymouth, Mass.), 8-3, at No. 1, and freshmen Luke Surawski (Wethersfield, Conn.) and Daniel O'Neill (Branford, Conn.) edging junior Seng Ly (Lynn, Mass.) and senior Zach Peter (Preston, Conn.), 9-8, at No. 2.
Peter evened the match at 2-all with a 6-3, 6-1 win over Tran at No. 4 singles, however Surawski gave the visitors a 3-2 lead with a 7-5, 6-1 win at No. 3. The Leopards took the next two matches to re-claim the lead as Dang rallied to defeat Arnold at No. 5, 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 and Tocco bested Kohut at No. 2, 6-4, 5-7, 6-4.
Kalmer defeated Smith at No. 1, 6-4, 5-7, 6-1 which evened the match at 4-all and junior Kevin Yawgel (Cromwell, Conn.) picked up the match-clinching win with a 7-5, 6-3 win over Mularski at No. 6.
Wentworth is at Endicott on Tuesday.
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