The Rhode Island College men’s tennis team earned the come-from-behind win against USM as they defeated the Huskies 5-4 at the Gorham High School courts Tuesday afternoon.
After three doubles matches, USM took a 2-1 lead over the Anchormen getting wins from first doubles teammates, senior Josh Warren (Hermon) and junior Mike Sarrazin (Lewiston) as well as junior Zach Caron (North Conway, N.H.) and Matt McGowan (Waterville), 8-4 and 8-5 respectively. With a three games to none lead, the Anchormen slowly began to string together a few consecutive points to mount a comeback late in the set. It was a match where the momentum was clearly a deciding factor in seemingly each and every point. A long volley return by Warren that forced his Rhode Island College counterpart to retreat all the way to the baseline and he was not able to return the shot. The Anchormen’s first serve was off the mark, and they never regained composure as they had six more serves in a row that faulted for the 8-4 win.
One of the keys to the Rhode Island victory was a third singles victory by junior Mike Aiello (Scituate, R.I.) 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 over Sarrazin. Almost every point consisted of at least ten or twelve volleys. In the longest match of the day, Sarrazin was awarded winner of the first set on some strategically placed shots, using every inch of the outside court.
Though the Huskies played well the windy funneling into the Gorham High School tennis courts was a factor.
“It often takes us some time to get used to the outside surface since most of our season takes place in the USM fieldhouse, which is quite fast,” Warren said. “Outside we really have to be patient and construct the points a bit better.”
Patience was definitely a key for Warren as he defeated RIC freshman Tigran Gasaryan in straight sets 6-0, 6-0 in first singles action. Warren was very optimistic about the play of his teammates as well as the future of the program for both schools.
“Our team is fairly young. There are three new guys this year in the starting lineup. This includes my doubles partner Mike Sarrazin. We are still working some kinks out, but our team is improving every day,” Warren said. “My game has been growing in confidence just like the rest of our team. RIC had a really strong player at the second singles spot, which made their line-up stronger. They ended up winning 5-4, but we gained some experience. These matches are important because we will learn how to better ourselves when conference playoffs start.”
With this loss the Huskies fall to 2-1 in the Little East Conference after winning their first conference match-up, and 3-5 overall on the season. The last regular season match for the Huskies before the playoffs will be at Bridgewater State on Tuesday April 24 as they look to end their season on a high note.