Devils Rally to Defeat Penmen

The University of the Sciences men's tennis team trailed 2-1 entering the singles competition in their season-opening match against Southern New Hampshire University before rallying and then pulling out a victory in the final match to take a 5-4 win. 

The Devils are 1-0 while the Penmen fall to 0-1. 

Senior Alvaro Vargas and sophomore David Kazakevich were the only victors in the doubles competition, winning their number one doubles match 9-8 (7-1) over Juan Arango-Campo and Alex Mukdaprakorn.    SNH's Mitch Dobek and Mike Wallace defeated freshman Steven Galerkin and senior Bill Fine at #2 doubles, 8-5 while John Niland and Jared Wright defeated the Devils sophomore duo of Julian Katzev and William Metz, 8-5 at #3 doubles, giving the Penmen a 2-1 lead heading into the singles competition. 

The Devils tied the match at 2-2 when Galerkin defeated Mukdaprakorn 4-6, 6-3, 1-0 (10-7) at #3 singles.  Southern New Hampshire regained the lead with a tiebreaker game win at #2 singles as Arango-Campo defeated Kazakevich 5-7, 6-2, 1-0 (10-7).  Another tiebreaker was needed as the Devils evened the score again at 3-3 as Vargas defeated Dobek 7-5, 3-6, 1-0 (10-7) as the competition turned to the final three matches of the day. 

Katzev put the Devils back on top, 4-3, with the easiest win amongst the singles matches, a 6-3, 6-3 triumph over Wright at #5 singles.   Wallace however defeated Fine at #4 singles 7-6 (7-4), 6-4 to even the score again at 4-4.  Metz then secured the victory for the Devils with the fourth tiebreaker on the day, defeating Tim Hamilton, 7-5, 1-6, 1-0 (10-6) at #6 singles, giving the Devils a 5-4 win.