PURCHASE, N.Y. – The second-seeded Manhattanville men’s tennis team made its way back to the Freedom Conference Tournament Championship match for the second straight year on Wednesday afternoon, as the Valiants eased by third-seeded Misericordia University in a 5-0 victory in the tournament semifinals at the Manhattanville Courts.
With the win, Manhattanville (13-5, 5-1 Freedom) advances to the Freedom Conference Championship match, where the Valiants will face off with the winner of today’s other semifinal between top-seeded Wilkes University (13-2, 6-0 Freedom) and fourth-seeded Eastern University (7-8, 3-3 Freedom).
The Valiants needed just 95 minutes to dispatch the Cougars, as the Valiants swept the doubles contests and then won the first two singles flights before play was halted.
Junior Julian Oribe (Buenos Aires, Argentina) and sophomore Michael Capozzi (Santo Domingo, D.R.) combined to earn three of Manhattanville’s five points on the day, beginning with an 8-0 win over Brandon Lux and Frank Nutt at first doubles that gave the home team its first point of the afternoon. The win is the 11th in a row for the pair, who are now 18-4 overall and 15-3 in dual matches this season.
Freshmen Andres Rivera (San Juan, Puerto Rico) and Karim Mahmoud (Cairo, Egypt) doubled the Valiant lead at third doubles with an 8-4 victory over Brett Ford and Justin Muthler, while graduate student Lance Dorfi (North Salem, N.Y.) and sophomore Dean Tahir (Yonkers, N.Y.) completed the doubles sweep at the second flight, beating Fred Hockenbury and Nate Powers by a close 8-6 score.
In singles play, Oribe moved the Valiants one point closer to victory by needing very little time to dispatch Lux, 6-2, 6-0, at the first-singles flight. Capozzi then put an end to the match with a 6-1, 6-0 triumph over Hockenbury at second singles. Capozzi moves to a very impressive 19-3 overall in singles play (16-2 in dual matches) this season, including a 17-match winning streak he still holds.
When the match was halted, all four remaining singles players for Manhattanville had already taken the first set of their respective matches, with Rivera and Mahmoud both three games away from victory up 3-1 in the second.