Posted: Apr 13, 2013
For the second time this week, the Ursinus College Men's Tennis team went on the road and came away with an important Centennial Conference win, defeating Gettysburg 8-1.
On Wednesday, the Bears (11-5, 3-3 CC) needed big rallies to claim two doubles wins at Washington. But Saturday, they were in charge right from the start. Both the first doubles team of Evan Stutchin and Logan Metcalf-Kelly and the third doubles team of Dylan Marsh and Tyler Arsenault charged out to commanding 7-0 leads in their respective matches. Marsh and Arsenault ended up winning by an 8-1 count, while Stutchin and Metcalf-Kelly triumphed 8-2.
In the second doubles tilt, Evan Lord and Alex Elbogen traded blows with Gettysburg's second doubles team of Scott Johnson and Mike Pratt. The Bears duo got up a late break, and then saw Elbogen serve out an 8-6 win.
"The win at second doubles was they key to the match," Bears head coach Pete Smith said. "We were up 2-0, and Gettysburg was just hanging in there, they would not go away. Once Evan and Alex put that match away, I felt good. The way we have been playing singles lately, we are hard to catch with a 3-0 lead."
Ursinus picked up in singles where they left off in doubles, as Tyler Arsenault raised his record to 15-4 on the year with a 6-4, 6-1 win at third singles. Then, with a 4-0 lead and looking for one more win to clinch the match, the Bears picked up two wins. Alex Elbogen (fourth singles) and Logan Metcalf-Kelly (sixth singles) both won within seconds of each other, giving Ursinus an insurmountable 6-0 lead in the match.
Evan Stutchin (first flight) and Dylan Marsh (fifth flight) closed out the scoring for the Bears, earning straight set victories to make the final score 8-1.
"I am really amazed and impressed with where this team is right now," Smith said. "You have to remember, we lost our third singles player (Matt Hope) to injury after the Dickinson match, and he also played first doubles for us. That was a huge loss. So we had to cobble together some different doubles lineups, as well as moving everyone up a spot in singles. To have done that, and then go on the road and beat Washington and Gettysburg in the same week...at some point you just look at the results and think hey, what these guys are doing is pretty special."
Ursinus will be on the road again on Monday, when the Bears travel to New Jersey to face Rutgers-Camden in a 4:00 pm match.