BALTIMORE, Md.—Playing for the third straight day in its busiest stretch of the season, Villanova (9-9) swept the doubles matches and won five singles matches in a 6-1 win over Loyola (Md.) (3-10) at the McClure Tennis Center on Monday afternoon. The win evened the Wildcats record at .500 with one regular season match left to play before the BIG EAST Championships open later this week.
Villanova got off to a strong start against the Greyhounds with three wins in the doubles matches. The tandem of junior
Matthew Jones (Dallas, Texas) and freshman
Josh Robinson (Potomac, Md.) moved up to No. 1 doubles for the second time this season and tallied a 6-2 win over Skyler Gates and Benny Glezer. The pairing of Jones and Robinson has been the most successful of the Villanova doubles teams on the season and they improved to 11-5 on the year while notching their first win in the top lineup spot.
Freshman
Anthony Prokurat (Manalapan, N.J.) and sophomore
Justin Suarez (Manila, Philippines) played at No. 2 doubles while the freshman duo of
Eitan Khromchenko (Manalapan, N.J.) and
Noah Winton (Columbia, Mo.) competed in the No. 3 doubles match. Both teams posted 6-4 victories in their matches, with the No. 2 contest clinching the doubles point and an early 1-0 lead for the Wildcats.
The closest of the singles matches came at the No. 3 spot in the lineup where Khromchenko rallied from one set down to defeat Edik Pribitkin in a tiebreaker. Khromchenko lost the first set 6-2 but came back to take the second set by an identical 6-2 score. He then outlasted Pribitkin, 10-8, in the tiebreaker to win the match and also clinch the team outcome.
Robinson moved up to No. 1 singles for the first time this season and sophomore
Alex Kim (Cary, N.C.) played in the No. 2 spot. They were each 6-4, 6-1 winners in their respective matches, with Robinson beating Gates and Kim knocking off Glezer. Sophomore
Daniel Cheng (Los Angeles, Calif.) won the opening set of his No. 4 singles match against Charlie Shanker, 6-4, before Shanker retired. In the No. 6 singles match, Prokurat was a 6-0, 6-2 winner over Oliver Davey.
The lone point for Loyola (Md.) came at No. 5 singles where freshman
Ryan Nguyen (Oakton, Va.) fell 6-1, 6-0 to Matt Cardano who earned his ninth consecutive win for the Greyhounds.
Villanova travels to Drexel on Tuesday at 1 p.m. for its final regular season match.
