Men’s Tennis: Colby-Sawyer hands Norwich first loss of 2012
NEW LONDON, N.H. – Colby-Sawyer handed the Norwich men's tennis team its first loss of 2012 with a 6-3 victory over the Cadets on Tuesday in non-league action at Kelsey Courts.
Colby-Sawyer (3-8) jumped out to a 2-1 lead after doubles and then won four of six singles matches to knock Norwich (5-1, 2-0 GNAC) from the ranks of the unbeaten after the Cadets had won five in a row to start the season.
Freshman Ryan Grindle (Essex Junction, Vt.) led the way for Norwich with a victory at No. 3 singles and teamed with sophomore Christian Hoskey (Saint Charles, Ill.) to take No. 2 doubles over Colby-Sawyer's Reeve Fidler and Eric Caples 8-1. Grindle beat Fidler in straight sets 6-2, 6-4.
Senior Collin Hyte (Marblehead, Mass.) picked up the other victory for Norwich at No. 1 singles. Hyte moved to 6-0 on the season at top singles with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Jamie Thormann.
The Chargers however had too much for Norwich. Thormann and Justin Pinard beat Hyte and Zach Reichelt (Manchester, Conn.) 8-4 at No. 1 doubles. Pinard also scored a victory at No. 2 singles to hand Hoskey his first solo loss of 2012 with 7-5, 6-3 wins in straight sets.
Clay Allen and Sergio Spassof each picked singles wins at the No. 4 and No. 5 slots, as well as teamed to take No. 3 doubles 8-2 over sophomores Brandon Carver (Peru, Maine) and Joseph Dvorak (De Soto, Kan.). Allen also beat Reichelt 6-4, 1-6, 6-1 and Spassof beat Carver 6-1, 6-1.
Caples closed the match with a win over Dvorak at No. 6 singles in straight sets 6-0, 7-5.
The Cadets will look to rebound on Saturday when they host Suffolk at Shapiro Fieldhouse at 1 p.m. in a crucial showdown between the top two teams in the league standings. Suffolk is the defending GNAC regular season and tournament champion and the Rams are a perfect 4-0 overall and 2-0 in GNAC play so far this season.
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