Eastern Nazarene Rallies Past Men's Tennis
Lions take 7-2 decision after trailing, 2-1, at the conclusion of doubles play; Juan Rodriguez and Dave Filar win at number one doubles and Andy Chen and Tim Nguyen win at number three doubles
BOSTON, Mass. – The Eastern Nazarene men's tennis team won all six singles flights – without dropping a set – to erase a 2-1 deficit and defeat Wentworth Institute of Technology, 7-2 in Commonwealth Coast Conference action at Harvard University.
Sophomore Sam McKay Corkhum (Rehoboth, Mass.) teamed with junior Tim Luz (Cumberland, R.I.) to claim an 8-4 win over Leopard freshmen James Drum (Madison, Conn.) and Sean Murray (North Brookfield, Mass.). Wentworth took a 2-1 lead by taking numbers three and one doubles. At number three, junior Andy Chen (New Taipei City, Taiwan) and senior Tim Nguyen (Windsor, Conn.) defeated freshman Kevin Paterno (Buenos Aires, Argentina) and sophomore Tyler Perron (Plympton, Mass.). Number one went to a tiebreak with senior Juan Rodriguez teaming with classmate Dave Filar (Wolcott, Conn.) to take a 9-8 (7-5) win over senior Austin Steelman (Darlington, Md.) and junior Nick Thompson (York, Pa.).
McKay-Corkhum defeated Drum at number two singles, 6-0, 6-1, to even the match at 2-all before Paterno used a 6-3, 6-1 decision over Chen to give the Lions the lead for good. Perron bested Nguyen at number five (6-2, 6-0) and Thompson's 6-3, 6-1 win over Murray clinched the match.
Luz defeated Filar, 6-3, 6-3, at number three before Steelmen edged Rodriguez, 6-4, 6-3 at number one to close out the match.
Winners of four straight, Eastern Nazarene (6-4, 3-0) hosts Emerson tomorrow. Wentworth (3-2, 2-1) hosts Western New England on Saturday.