The No. 1 Lehigh men’s tennis team faced off against rival No. 9 Lafayette College in the quarterfinal round of the Patriot League championship tournament on Saturday, finishing with a 4-0 victory in a win or go home dual.
The Mountain Hawks (14-8, 7-1 Patriot) utilized key wins in doubles play as well as a dominant singles showing to beat the Leopards (5-10, 1-6 Patriot) by a 4-0 mark for the second time in 10 days, this time ending the Leopards season.
Sophomore Rafael Gracie and first-year Kosei Ogata set the tone early for the Mountain Hawks with a 6-3 win in doubles play. They were quickly joined by their teammates, first-year Henry Stoller and senior Wyeth Anzilotti, who also posted a 6-3 victory.
With the doubles point already decided, Lehigh junior Alex Van Lumich and fifth-year student Sean Jaeger had their doubles match abandoned while trailing 5-4 against Lafayette senior Nick McKenzie and first-year Ricky Espaillat.
“Today we focused a lot on energy. Since the first point, we tried to be aggressive, and it helped us to keep pressure on all game long,” Gracie said. “Ultimately, it gave us a lot of opportunities to win points.”
The Mountain Hawks kept their foot on the pedal, only dropping one set as a whole in singles.
No. 2 Van Lumich defeated junior Derrin Lerner 6-4, 6-0 and No. 3 first-year Aleksander Daskalovich followed with a win against McKenzie 6-3, 6-2.
“I played pretty loose in the first set, and I made some mistakes,” Van Lumich said. “But it kept me aggressive and my teammates were around me and supporting me and that kept me confident all match.”
The day then came to an early end, as No. 6 Stoller defeated senior Jake Magnusson, 6-1, 6-4.
Coach Craig Schwartz said he was pleased with how his team handled the day.
“Today, being the first round, is always a little bit of jitters,” Schwartz said. “Being the one seed is something new for us, but I’m proud of the way our kids battled and separated themselves.”
Van Lumich emphasized that the team’s mentality doesn’t change as they move deeper into the tournament.
“Right now we are going to go hit inside, and get some food and hydrate,” Van Lumich said. “We have to keep doing what we’ve been doing all year to reach our end goal.”
Schwartz carries a similar mindset and said the team needs to be ready for a tough match tomorrow.
The Mountain Hawks will face Bucknell University in the Patriot League semifinals, who they recently beat 4-3 in Lewisburg on April 18.
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