Marywood men’s tennis took on the Neumann University Knights last Wednesday evening in a pivotal conference matchup.

The Pacers came into the match trying to extend their win streak, sporting a record of 2-5 on the season and 1-1 in the Atlantic East Conference.

For the Knights, they came into the match with a record of 2-2 on the season and 0-1 in the Atlantic East Conference. They were trying to avoid a two match losing streak after being defeated 8-1 by Marymount University in their last match.

Three doubles showdowns began the match. Sophomores Eddie McGreevy and Stefano Verela-Serri for the Pacers took on Neumann’s Daniel Bonowski and Justin McCullen. The group of McGreevy and Verela-Serri would not be able to get the victory as they lost the doubles match 8-5.

In number two doubles, the Pacers’ performance improved. The duo of James Cawley and David Chemidlin was able to pull off an 8-5 victory over Anthony Carpinella and Vince Landis, tying the match total 1-1.

In number three doubles, it was back and forth for most of the match between Marywood’s Max Burke/Trey Watson pairing and Neumann’s Dylan Stiteler/Joe Trolio. Both sides won a set, forcing a tiebreaker.

In the tiebreaker set, the Knights would win the set by a large margin. A 7-2 tally led the Knights to victory with a final score of 8-7.

In singles action, Neumann took control and started to seal their victory. The Knights picked up a win in number one singles after an impressive 6-3, 6-2 win by Daniel Bonowski over Eddie McGreevy.

Second and third singles were also victories for Neumann. Justin McCullen and Vince Landis took charge in their matches. McCullen won his match by opponent retirement and Landis won his match 4-6, 6-2, 6-3. Neumann’s strong showing in singles helped them extend their lead to 5-1.

However, in number four singles, the Pacers showed some fight. James Cawley was dominant in his match against Anthony Carpinella. Cawley didn’t have to play behind and had a comfortable lead in each set.

Cawley would win the match by a score of 6-2, 6-2 cutting the deficit to 5-2 for the entire match. Cawley has now won three singles matches in a row this season, all of them by four or more.

The final singles matches were split between the two sides. Neumann would win the fifth singles match thanks to Joe Trolio’s 7-5, 6-2 win over Max Burke. This gave the Knights a 6-2 lead and put the match out of reach for Marywood.

To end the entire match on a high note, the Pacers were able to get a win in the sixth singles match. After winning a close first set 6-4, Trey Watson erupted in the second set and shut out Gavin Fuhs 6-0. This cut the deficit for Marywood to 6-3 but would not be enough to get the win.

Neumann improves to 3-2 overall on the season with the win and are now 2-1 in conference play. As for Marywood, they fall to 2-6 on the season and are now 1-2 in conference play.

With the Atlantic East Conference Playoffs starting on April 27, the Pacers are hoping to win the rest of the games on their schedule to get a better seed come playoff time.

“We need to win against Gwynedd Mercy to allow us to enter the playoffs,” said Max Burke. “We believe we can really make a push.”

Marywood men’s tennis will compete at Gwynedd Mercy University for their next match on April 20.

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