The College of Staten Island men’s tennis team dropped its second straight match in Orlando, Florida as part of Spring Break Tennis, dropping a 6-3 final to Otterbein College on Friday morning.  The loss dipped the Dolphins to 2-2 overall with two games remaining in the Florida tour.
The key to Otterbein’s victory came in doubles as the team got off to a healthy 3-0 start.  CSI’s strongest bid at a doubles win was at No.3, where the team of Daniel Ursomanno and Masaru Takaki held strong but relented at the end in a 9-7 loss to OC’s Ryan Shutt and Ryan Roberts.
After the tough doubles draw, CSI got back on track for singles, looking revived and energetic, thirsty to salvage a win.  The great effort was seen at Nos. 1, 2, and 6 singles.  Ursomanno took a quick, 6-1, 6-3, winner over Roberts at No. 6, and after a tough 7-6 (7-5) winner in the first set, No. 2 Patrick Thomas whizzed by Tyler Brodhead, 6-1, in the second set to take that match.
In a sharp turn-around, No. 1 Singles player Nicholas Zikos, who had lost as part of No. 1 Doubles 8-0, and then lost his first set to Steven Albert, 6-0.  Zikos turned the tide however in a great show of resiliency.  The freshman battled to a 7-6 (8-6) winner in the second set, and punched home a win with a 6-1 game in set number three, insuring the Dolphins left the court content with the effort.
“I am proud of the way we left,” said Head Coach Paul Ricciardi.  “These have been close matches and unfortunately we did not play well early this afternoon and it cost us.  But we rallied back and finished the match nicely against a very talented team.”
CSI will have an off day on Saturday, and will return to action for a doubleheader day of tennis tomorrow.  The team plays North Central College at 8am and after a short break will face Grinnell College at 1pm.