Men's College Tennis
Lafayette College 5, Rider University 2

EASTON, Pa.—Despite the first win for sophomore Ahmed Al-Shawafi (Pennington/Hopewell Valley Central), the Rider University men's tennis team lost a non-conference match to Lafayette College on Saturday afternoon at Northwood Racquet Club.

Al-Shawafi won 1-6, 6-3, 10-8 at fourth singles.

Also for the Broncs, freshman Chris Popso (Florence) was a winner at second singles, 5-7, 6-2, 10-6.

“Both Ahmed and Chris battled back after each losing their opening sets,” said head coach Doug Potkay.  “Chris used a powerful first serve and ground strokes to over power his opponent and Ahmed used more of a finesse game to control the rallies and move his opponent side to side and keep him off balance.”

In doubles play, Al-Shawafi teamed up with Matt Bagley (Pennington/Hopewell Valley Central) at third doubles and gave it a battle before losing 8-6.

The Rider men return to action on March 16 for a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference match against Fairfield University.