BROOKLYN – The Pratt Institute men's tennis team recorded their first victory of the 2018 season, a 5-4 win over the Broncos of SUNY – Delhi on Sunday afternoon in the ARC.
For the second time in as many days, Pratt's top doubles pairing of Ben Erickson and Simon Salazar gave the Cannoneers the opening point of the match – an 8-3 triumph over Delhi's Robert Zawadzki and Jefferson Iliey. The No. 2 tandem of Hubert Chen and Aris Azarmsa followed suit with their own 8-3 win, extending the Pratt advantage to 2-0. Abhishek Thakkar and Taeyoung Chang couldn't complete the doubles sweep, as they dropped a highly-competitive 8-5 decision.
In the singles portion of the afternoon, Erickson got Pratt off on the right foot as he recorded a clean sweep in the No. 1 flight 6-0, 6-0. After splitting the first two sets of their singles match, Hubert Chen and the Broncos' Lac Van battled back and forth in the tiebreaker. Ultimately, Van was able to best Chen, taking the set and the match 3-6, 6-3, 10-7.
Simon Salazar made quick work of Delhi's Iliey in the No. 3 singles slot, recording a 6-2, 6-1 victory that put the Cannoneers one point away from victory. In the fourth singles flight, Aris Azarmsa regrouped after dropping the first set to take the second, 6-4, forcing a tiebreaker. Azarmsa overwhelmed Marcos Andrino of SUNY – Delhi 10-4 to seal Pratt's first victory of the season. The Broncos would take the final two singles matches, however, freshman Leo Yang was commended for his exceptional play in the No. 6 position, a hard-fought 7-5, 7-5 defeat.
Up Next – The Cannoneers continue their home stand as they welcome the Avengers from ASA College to the ARC on Thursday, March 29. A 7:00 p.m. start time was announced.
