Men's College Tennis
Rider University 6, Wagner College 0
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.--The Rider University men's tennis team picked up its first win of the season, sweeping Wagner College in a non-conference match Friday afternoon.
"It was a good, solid team effort in extremely windy conditions," said head coach Ed Torres. "We were a little more experienced than they were. If we wouldn't have gone through all of the tough matches that we have, we would have played as well as we did today."
For the Broncs, freshman Rollie Malfitano (Wenonah/Gloucester Catholic) won his second match in a row at first singles, 6-4, 6-3.
Also winning for Rider were senior Chris Esposito (Ocean Grove/Neptune) at third singles 6-3, 6-2, sophomore John Spellman at fourth singles (Toms River/Toms River HS South) 6-1, 6-1, senior Rob Olsen (Marlton/Cherokee) at fifth singles 6-0, 6-1 and sophomore Ryan Carpenter (Sahuarita, Ariz./Sahuarita) at sixth singles 6-0, 6-0.
Malfitano and sophomore Matt DiMartino (Langhorne, Pa./Neshaminy) won at first doubles 8-6, sophomore Milo Milosovici (Florence) and Olsen teamed up for an 8-0 win at second doubles with Esposito and freshman Joe Dente (Long Branch) posting an 8-0 win at third doubles.
"Matt DiMartino played very well at doubles today," said Torres. "He is a doubles specialist. His father is a teaching pro and Matt has been involved in tennis a long time. He takes pride in his doubles play."
"The team win feels really good because we have been working hard in practice," DiMartino, an International Business and Finance major said. "Wagner is a pretty strong team, especially at the top and the top half of our line up did a nice job. I knew the four, five and six singles would also take care of business and do what we needed to do. We know we are young. Rollie (Malfitano) stepped up big in my doubles match. We had a big lead early on and Wagner started coming back and I told him we had to step it up and he did a nice job."
The Broncs won at Wagner last fall 7-0 and defeated the Seahawks in Lawrenceville 5-2 during the spring season.
"Our team record may not be the best but I've definitely seen improvement in everyone's play," Torres said. "You have to take baby steps in tennis; you don't just get good suddenly after a month of practice. It really takes years and we are working with 10 players who are freshmen or sophomores. This is by far the youngest team that I've ever had. The team is working hard and quite frankly I never think about the overall team record. The enjoyment of the team playing and how they conduct themselves off the court is just as important."
"My win at doubles feels great," DiMartino added. "I've been kind of a doubles specialist and I've had chemistry with a few of my teammates and to get the win was nice. I'm a stronger doubles player and I really like my chemistry with Rollie. We feed off each other."
The Rider men are back in action on October 20 against Hofstra. The Rider women travel to Wagner for a non-conference match on Saturday.
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