Box Score HAMDEN, Conn. -- The University of North Dakota men's tennis team rolled to a 7-0 victory over Quinnipiac on Saturday evening from Hamden, Conn. to begin a two-match weekend of tennis.
UND (11-2), which saw its schedule altered due to poor weather in the Grand Forks area, didn't seemed fazed, picking up wins on each singles court and the top-two doubles courts to grab the victory.
"It was good for the team to get back into a match situation after experiencing our first losses of the season last weekend in DeKalb," said UND head tennis coach Tom Boysen. "How a team responds to setbacks, adversities and disappointments defines the culture and climate of a program. I could tell how much they wanted to put last weekend behind us, learn from it of course, but move on from it and start a new winning streak."
The visitors wasted no time in jumping out to an early 1-0 lead, with the top doubles pairing of
Nikita Snezhko and
Gerhard Sullwald starting two-man play off with a 6-1 triumph before
Cian McDonnell and
Edmond Aynedjian followed with a 6-3 win at the middle spot to clinch the doubles point and the 1-0 start for the green and white.
Drew Van Fossen extended the lead to 2-0 at the No. 6 position, notching a 6-1, 6-3 victory before Aynedjian pushed the match to its brink by a 6-2, 6-1 score at the third spot. McDonnell provided the clinching win for the Fighting Hawks from the No. 2 court, rolling to a 6-1, 6-4 triumph to seal the match.
UND didn't let up in the final trio of singles matches either, as Snezhko battled in a pair of tight sets before cruising by a 10-2 score in the tiebreaker to add the fifth win of the day at the No. 4 court while Sullwald also split the first frames before a 10-5 triumph in his third stanza to increase the advantage to 6-0 from the top spot.
Riley Odell put the finishing touches on the 7-0 victory on the fifth court, rallying from a 7-6 loss in the opening set to force a tiebreaker by a 6-3 score. The Dallas, Texas, native held on in a wild, 14-12 third set to notch the final victory for UND.
"We did a good job tonight in different types of situations," said Boysen. "Edmond, Cian and Drew established early leads and ran with them, while Nikita, Gerry and Riley perservered in third set super-breakers, playing some of their best tennis at the end of long matches."
Overall, the Fighting Hawks dropped only three sets in the entire match, picking up a trio of three-set wins on the No. 1, 4 and 5 courts to polish off the shutout.
North Dakota closes out the weekend against Marist at 6 p.m. from Poughkeepsie, N.Y.
