Apr. 15, 2011

Box Score

For the fourth time in its last five matches, the Lehman men's tennis team held a lead after doubles action, only to falter in singles action as it lost a conference matchup with visiting John Jay on Friday afternoon, 6-3, to fall to 2-6 overall.

The Lightning held a 2-1 lead thanks to its No. 1 pairing of Raul Santana and Michael Tal and its No. 3 partnering of Philip Akogu and Marcos Coto-Batres. Though both matches were close, the senior/freshman pairing of Santana and Tal topped Dong Shao and Erkut Cakmak 8-6, while Akogu and Coto-Batres held off Kelvin Rodriguez and Ian Wildman 8-5. In No. 2 doubles, Jahi-Abasi Jabbar and Cesar Andrade were defeated by Stephen Walz and Andreas Pantaloukas 8-6.

But despite their good fortune in doubles, none of the Lightning could carry the momentum to singles action. In fact, the only win came from Jabbar, a loser in doubles, who beat Walz 7-5, 6-4.

Three of the remaining five singles matches were taken in straight sets by the Bloodhounds as Cakmak stopped Tal 6-1, 6-0 in a battle of No. 2s; Pantaloukas bested Andrade 6-4, 6-4; and Rodriguez downed Coto-Batres 6-1, 6-3.

Lehman put up its best fight in No. 1 and No. 6 action. In a battle of No. 1s, Shao outlasted Santana, who was forced to retire with the match tied at one and Shao leading 4-2 in the deciding set, while Nasim Morad and Rabiedra Hansraj, neither of whom factored into doubles play, waged a three set duel that was eventually taken by Morad 3-6, 6-2, 7-6.

With the loss the Lightning now sits at 2-5 in the conference.

The team will have one day off before returning to the court on Sunday afternoon to face visiting Polytechnic Institute of New York University.