WEST WINDSOR, NJ –
Roger Martinez (Girona, Spain/Saint George's School) won at No. 4 singles and the Broncs forced third sets on four singles courts, but the Rider University men's tennis team fell to top-seeded Fairfield, 4-1, in the MAAC Semifinals Saturday afternoon at Mercer County Park Tennis Center. With the loss, the Broncs, who were making their first-ever trip to a four-team MAAC Championships, end their season at 6-18. The Stags (14-8) advance to Sunday's MAAC title match.
"Found ourselves down 3-0 yet again, but in good old Rider fashion, we fought all the way back to push it to a third set on courts 3-6," said Rider Head Coach
Tom Battaglia. "Roger got us on the board and we just couldn't hold on long enough to complete the comeback. These guys all season showed a lot of heart. We tested them with some tough matches for this moment. They never believed for one second that they couldn't compete. At the end of the day, I'm super proud of their effort. They are a passionate group. Tough pill to swallow as we had bigger goals this season, but we will be back and we won't go away quietly."
The Stags began the match by taking the doubles point.
Stavros Hadjivarnava (Moutagiaka, Cyrus/British College of Gava) and
Jake Grimes (Atlanta, GA/Johnson Ferry Christian Academy) fell to Nick Condos and Will O'Brien, 6-3, at No. 2 in the closest match finished for the Broncs.
Cooper Dillon (Brisbane, Australia/Laurel Springs) and Ibragim Turgambekov (Almaty, Kazakhstan) fell at the top flight to Thomas Smart and Sam Hodges, 6-1. The remaining match at No. 3 between the Broncs' duo of
Nathan Slattery (Nenagh, Ireland) and
Dhruv Tangri (Punjab, India/Cambridge International School) and the Stags' Luca Benaibbouche and Kostas Kollias went unfinished.
In singles, the Stags built their lead to 3-0 with wins at the top two flights.
Matthew Griscti (Madliena, Malta) fell to Smart, 6-2, 6-3, at No. 1, while Hodges defeated Tangri, 6-2, 6-4, at No. 2. Martinez pulled out a 5-7, 6-4, 6-3, win at No. 4 to get the Broncs on the board. But the Stags clinched the match with Condos' 6-4, 2-6, 6-4, win over Slattery at No. 4.
