WASHINGTON - The Catholic University men's team opened the 2015-2016 season with a solid performance in a 6-3 victory over visiting St. Mary's College (Md).
The team match began with the doubles competition and strong performances were received from both tandems of Jan LaSota and Ted Tiu, playing in the number three doubles position, and Rocky Alaqbani and Robert Alexander at two. It was first year team member Tiu's first collegiate win.
Winning two of the three doubles matches provided CUA with a lead heading into the team singles competition. The top of the Cardinal lineup proved to have the firepower to clinch the overall team match with three team singles victories.
At number one Juan Lorido out-dueled his SMC counterpart, despite long grinding points, netting a hard-fought 6-1, 6-0 win. At two, Lasota built on the momentum from his doubles win, posting a 6-0, 6-2 victory.
Alhaqbani clinched the match by handling a lot of first set pressure being down a break before rallying to claim a 7-5,6-0 victory.
"Our players have been working hard at practice and they indeed worked hard today in the match. St. Mary's has a fine team, and in particular the competitiveness that they displayed after the match had already been clinched is a sign of a team that is hungry and will undoubtedly improve," said first year head coach Rich Bausch. "If not for our solid performance in doubles, this match could have gone the other way. I think we all took note of that effort by St. Mary's; we will absolutely have to maintain a high effort level in practice to improve and grow as a team."
The Cardinals return to match competition on Thursday, September 24 when McDaniel visits for a match at the Dowd Family Courts at the DuFour Center. That match is scheduled to begin at 3 p.m.
TEAM DOUBLES COMPETITION
#1 Doubles
Juan Lorido/Alex Davis(CUA) l. Mike Hardesty/Connor McKissik(SMC) 3-8
#2 Doubles
Rocky Alhaqbani/Rob Alexander(CUA) d. Robert Bishop/Kyle Van Winter(SMC) 8-3
#3 Doubles
Jan Lasota/Ted Tiu(CUA) d. Byron Dickerson/Nick Ersoy(SMC) 8-2
TEAM SINGLES COMPETITION
#1 Singles
Juan Lorida(CUA) d Mike Hardesty(SMC) 6-1,6-0
#2 Singles
Jan Lasota(CUA) d Robert Bishop(SMC) 6-0,6-2
#3 Singles
Rocky Alhaqbani(CUA) d Byron Dickerson(SMC) 7-5,6-0
#4 Singles
Rob Alexander(CUA) d. Connor McKissik(SMC) 6-4,6-3
#5 Singles
Ted Tiu(CUA) l. Nick Ersoy(SMC) 6-7(1),2-6
#6 Singles
Alex Davis(CUA) l. Kyle Van Winter (SMC) 3-6,2-6
