After falling behind in doubles play, the College of Staten Island men’s tennis team roared back in doubles, to post a 6-3, non-conference, win at Rutgers University – Camden this afternoon. The Dolphins improved to 2-3 overall with the win, while the Scarlet Raptors falling to 1-4.
All doubles matches were close, but it was the RU team of Anthony Gendin and Ryan Christopher that posted a win over CSI’s Andrew Adia and Mitchel Voloshin as part of No. 2 Doubles that got the home team out to a lead after an 8-4 win. One rung lower, the CSI duo of Akaki Dundua and Tao Lin stayed sharp and focused to score an 8-5 win to knot the score at 1-1.
The Scarlet Raptors, however, got the last laugh after doubles play, thanks to an 8-4 win by Jason Mehta and Jair Norman over CSI’s Chris Pinto and Raymond Hwang. That gave the home side a great deal of momentum going into singles play.
CSI fell further down the well, when Gendin posted a gritty, 7-5, 6-4, win over Adia at No. 1 Singles to give RU-Camden a 3-1 lead.
But then the tide suddenly began to turn.
Near the bottom of the order, Mukhiddin Nuriddinov at No. 5, advanced over RU’s Jake Collette-Nippins, 6-1, 6-3, and a few moments later, Alex Tsui, in the No. 6 spot, looked spot-on in a 6-3, 6-0 winner over Khoa Ly. That knotted the score at 3-3, but more importantly, swung the pendulum of momentum back to CSI.
Hwang would follow next at No. 3, giving CSI a 6-2, 6-3, win over Norman, and shortly after, Dundua notched the clincher, a 6-4, 6-2, win over Mehta in the No. 4 spot, to give CSI the win. For extra measure, Pinto gave CSI its sixth point at No. 2, getting a hard-earned, 7-6 (7-2), 6-3, winner over Christopher to make the final, 6-3.
CSI will stay outside of conference for their next meet, when they travel on Tuesday to face Penn State University – Abington at 3:30pm.
