Hampton, VA.— The UC Riverside Men's Tennis Team added two more wins on this week's road trip as the Highlanders swept Hampton 7-0 and defeated Norfolk State 4-2. UCR has now won three straight matches and nine of its last eleven.
"The guys have really shown a lot of heart during this tough and intense road trip," Head Coach Mattias Johansson said. "The hard training is paying off."
HAMPTON
The Highlanders took their 6th sweeping victory of the season dropping Hampton 7-0. UCR had a perfect match winning all three doubles and all six singles matches.
The doubles round was clinchins on courts one and two for the Highlanders as the freshman duo of
Pawel Jankowiak and
Vignesh Subramanyan took a 6-4 victory and the team of
Filip Engstrom and
Kyle McCann added a 6-3 win.
UCR swept the singles round to secure the 7-0 victory and had three straight set wins from Jankowiak, Subramanyan, and
Nabil Abdallah.
Jankowiak defeated Matt Foster-Estwick 7-5, 6-4 on court one, Subramanyan dropped Luke Thompson 6-2, 6-0 on court six, and Abdallah had a nearly perfect match on court four sweeping Charles Hudson 6-0, 6-1.
NORFOLK STATE
In the second match of the doubleheader UCR defeated Norfolk State 4-2 winning the doubles round and clinching with three singles victories.
"This was my 899th college match and this win ranked top five for me as far as efforts and the will to win when the body just wants to give up," Johansson said. "I'm very proud of all the guys for hanging in there all the way to the end."
The Highlanders battled in the doubles round as the team of Engstrom and McCann took a 6-4 win on court two, but the Spartans would answer taking the match on court one. The doubles point would come down to court three and UCR would emerge victorious as the duo of Abdallah and
Anderson Ju edged out their opponents 7-6 to put the Highlanders up 1-0.
Doubles play opened up with a Highlander win on court six as Subramanyan defeated Ignacio Guevel 6-2, 6-3, but the Spartans would answer with wins on courts two and five to ice the overall match at 2-2.
UCR would take the lead with a 7-6. 6-4 win on court four as Abdallah dropped Dan Dumitrascu in straight sets.
On court two, McCann would add his 5th straight three-set victory to seal the win for the Highlanders downing Flavian Fernandez 6-2, 3-6, 6-4.
UC Riverside will wrap up its road trip this Friday as the Highlanders will continue their 2-1 match with Chowan before facing North Carolina Central.
