Lehigh University Athletics
Mountain Hawks to open league play vs. Army
2/25/2010 3:30:00 PM | Men's Tennis
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BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The Lehigh men’s tennis team will open up Patriot League play on Saturday when the Mountain Hawks welcome the Black Knights of Army to the Lewis Tennis Center. The Mountain Hawks and Black Knights will kick off the Patriot League tennis season before Lehigh embarks on a month-long hiatus from competition.
The Mountain Hawks’ four-match win streak came to an end last Saturday with a 5-2 loss to Georgetown, but Lehigh bounced back on Sunday with a 4-3 win over Drexel, which improved the Brown and White to 5-4 on the spring season. Lehigh overcame a 3-2 deficit with wins by sophomore Ryan Krueger and freshman Andrew Krentz at the bottom two singles flights. The match came down to Krentz at No. 6 singles. Up a set against Jegonathan Srinivasan of Drexel, and leading 6-5 in the second set Krentz had five match point opportunities to win the match for Lehigh, but was unsuccessful each time before finally securing the winning point on the sixth match point.
Junior Troy List continues to lead the way for Lehigh as the Mountain Hawks No. 1 singles player owns a 6-3 spring record and has teamed with classmate Collin Laffey to go 5-3 No. 1 doubles. Lehigh’s top doubles team has been the No. 2 pairing of sophomore Leland Richardson and freshman Matt Savran, who have amassed a 5-2 record thus far.
Army enters Saturday’s match at 3-5 overall, looking to bounce back from its first-ever loss to Fairleigh Dickinson 4-3 on Sunday. The Black Knights own wins over Fairfield, Connecticut and Hofstra. Army has been led by freshman Gary Kushnirovich, who has occupied the No. 1 position and was the Patriot League’s Player of the Month for January.
The Black Knights have reached the finals of the Patriot League tournament in each of the last seven seasons, the last three of which Army has lost to rival Navy in the championship match.
Army has dominated the all-time series versus Lehigh, winning 35-of-37 meetings between the schools. Lehigh’s two wins over the Black Knights came in 1925 and 1986. Last year, the Black Knights topped the Mountain Hawks 5-2 at West Point, N.Y. List and Edgars Rauza won singles matches to account for Lehigh’s two points.
The threat of inclement weather has forced the start time for Saturday’s match to be pushed back two hours, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. The match will be played at Lehigh’s Lewis Tennis Center.
Lehigh-Army Preview with Mike Lederer '10
