Fairfield Athletics
Men’s Tennis went 1-1 this weekend against two tough teams: St. Peter’s College and St. John’s University.
In their conference opener against St. Peter’s, the Stags had an outstanding performance, beating the Peacocks 6-1.
The day began with doubles play. The duo of Joe Michalisin ’12 and Erik Kremheller ‘13 set the tone for the match when they defeated Edwin Huisman and Alex Frakes 8-4 at first doubles. Last week Kremheller was also recognized as MAAC Player of the Week.
“Being named MAAC Player of the Week came as a huge surprise to me,” he said. “This was my first time receiving such an award and I consider it to be a huge honor. I now use it as motivation each week to perform even better.”
Two freshmen for the Stags, Dennis Zlobinsky and Reece Breault, finished next with an 8-4 victory over Chris Frakes and Luccas Coutinho.
The final doubles match was also a victory for the Stags as Dan Sauter ‘12 and Bjorn Merinder ‘14 took care of Sergey Igel and Robert Forai 8-4.
The day continued with wins during the singles matches. Zlobinsky, Kremheller, Rob Ferrante ’11, Michalisin, and Breault all had impressive wins against their MAAC competitors.
The only point that St. Peter’s managed to earn occurred when Sergey Igel defeated Sauter after a tough match.
The Stags walked away from their first MAAC match with their heads held high after a day of impressive playing.
However, with every success comes some hardship as well. The Men’s Tennis team was defeated by St. John’s this past Friday night. Although they fought hard against the Red Storm, their efforts could not bring them a victory in this non-conference match up.
“The matches this weekend were good and bad,” senior player Mark Kremheller said. “We executed well against a tough MAAC team, St. Peters, in our MAAC opener but lost a tough match to an elite team in St. John’s. It showed us we can compete with the best though and as we mature more this season it will help us tremendously.”
Kremheller also had insight about future MAAC play.
“Our toughest match this year will be Marist, since they are our MAAC rivals, but with the proper coaching and fitness instructions there is no doubt in my mind that we will come out on top this season,” he said. “Everyone has been putting in the effort, on and off the court and that comes from good leadership from the top.”
The Stags have been picked by the preseason coaches’ poll to finish second in the conference and have already showed that they are a force to be reckoned with.
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