Lehigh University
Fairleigh Dickinson
Mountain Hawks edged 4-3 by FDU on Sunday
2/1/2009 2:15:00 PM | Men's Tennis
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BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Lehigh battled Fairleigh Dickinson tough right down to the wire, but Alex Jorne’s second set tiebreaker win over sophomore Arnaldo Pacheco propelled the visiting Knights to a 4-3 win over the Mountain Hawks Sunday inside the Lewis Tennis Center. The Mountain Hawks captured the doubles point and won two singles matches, but it was not enough as Lehigh falls to 0-3 on the spring season.
Things started well for the Brown and White, who captured the doubles point to take an early 1-0 lead. Sophomores Troy List and Collin Laffey opened with an upset win, knocking off the regionally-ranked team of Matt Gordon and Andrew Denny 8-5 at No. 1 doubles. After FDU won at second doubles, Lehigh freshman Ryan Krueger came through with the deciding service game as he and sophomore Chris Collins won 8-6 over Alex Jorne and Keiichiro Adachi at No. 3 doubles.
In singles play, Fairleigh Dickinson rallied to take a lead with wins at first, second and fourth singles. Lehigh dug deep however, with several gritty performances to stay within striking distance. Freshman Leland Richardson kept Lehigh in the match, rallying from a set down to down Ankesh Bhargava 2-6, 7-5, 6-3 at No. 3 singles. The two remaining matches ended nearly at the same time. Pacheco and Jorne were locked up in a tightly contested battle and in a second set tiebreak at No. 6 singles, while Collins and Don Hemy were locked in a deciding third-set tiebreaker at No. 5 singles. Collins pushed through to win his tiebreak 7-4 and earn a 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 win to tie the match at three, but Pacheco was unable to hold a 6-3 lead in his tiebreak as Jorne rallied for the 8-6 win in the tiebreaker to clinch the match for the visitors.
The Mountain Hawks will return to the court next Sunday when they travel to Penn State. First serve is set for 3 p.m. from University Park, Pa.
Fairleigh Dickinson 4, Lehigh 3
Doubles
1. List/Laffey (LU) def. Gordon/Denny (FDU) 8-5
2. Jemersic/Bhargava (FDU) def. Pacheco/Silbert (LU) 8-6
3. Collins/Krueger (LU) def. Jorne/Adachi (FDU) 8-6
Singles
1. Matt Gordon (FDU) def. Troy List (LU) 6-3, 6-2
2. Marco Jemersic (FDU) def. Collin Laffey (LU) 6-2, 6-2
3. Leland Richardson (LU) def. Ankesh Bhargava (FDU) 2-6, 7-5, 6-3
4. Andrew Denny (FDU) def. Edgars Rauza (LU) 7-5, 7-5
5. Chris Collins (LU) def. Dom Hemy (FDU) 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 (4)
6. Alex Jorne (FDU) def. Arnaldo Pacheco (LU) 7-5, 7-6 (6)
