PIKESVILLE, Md.—All five freshmen on the Villanova (2-2) roster were winners in their singles and/or doubles matches in a 6-1 victory over Coppin State (1-2) at the Coppermine Indoor Tennis Facility on Friday afternoon. It was a strong team win for the Wildcats, whose lineup featured almost exclusively freshmen and sophomores in the team's fourth dual match of the season. Villanova swept the three doubles matches and won five of the six singles matches in straight sets.
Freshman
Eitan Khromchenko (Manalapan, N.J.) clinched the team result with a win in the No. 3 singles match. He improved to 3-0 in singles play this season with a 7-5, 6-3 win over Michael Michael to add to a win in the No. 1 doubles match where he teamed with sophomore
Alex Kim (Cary, N.C.) for a 7-6 (3) decision over Sergiu Medesan and Vansh Kapoor.
The other two doubles pairings for the Wildcats were each victorious for the second straight week. Sophomore
Daniel Cheng (Los Angeles, Calif.) and freshman
Noah Winton (Columbia, Mo.) clinched the doubles point in the No. 2 match with a 6-1 win over Dean Waterman and Christopher Green, while freshman
Josh Robinson (Potomac, Md.) and junior
Matthew Jones (Dallas, Texas) were 6-2 winners over Henrique Sada and Michael at No. 3 doubles.
"It was another solid outing for our guys," Villanova head coach
Brad Adams said. "This was an extremely young lineup composed of mostly freshmen and sophomores with one junior. It was good to see how they reacted to the challenge of true competition. I thought once the guys settled down they played well."
Kim tallied his second win of the season at No. 1 singles with a 6-0, 6-3 decision over Michael. The play by the Wildcats in the bottom half of the lineup was particularly strong, as Villanova dropped just two games in the fourth through sixth spots in the lineup. Cheng was a 6-2, 6-0 winner over Kapoor in the No. 4 match, while freshmen
Ryan Nguyen (Oakton, Va.) and
Anthony Prokurat (Manalapan, N.J.) swept their matches at No. 5 and No. 6 by 6-0, 6-0 scores against Waterman and Green, respectively.
"It was a great day for Villanova Tennis overall, but there are definitely things that we need to continue to work on in order for us to get better," Adams said. "The guys will keep working hard and I will continue to look for matches for a group that is very hungry for competition."
Villanova will next play on the road at Salisbury on Friday, March 12 at 2 p.m.
