Hilton Head Island, S.C. – The St. Mary's College of Maryland men's tennis team recorded their second straight win with a 6-3 win on St. Patrick's Day over Albright College (6-3) in their final match at the PTR Spring TennisFest down in South Carolina.
St. Mary's (3-3) found themselves down 2-1 heading into singles action. Junior Nick Ersoy (Prince Frederick, Md./Huntingtown) and first-year Kyle Van Winter (Scaggsville, Md./Good Counsel) helped the Seahawks avoid the doubles sweep with an 8-2 win over Coleman Mitchell and senior Thomas Werner (Pottstown, Pa./Pottsgrove) at No. 3 doubles.
Ersoy then evened up the score with a 6-0, 6-2 win over Werner at No. 5 singles. First-year Connor McKissick (Leonardtown, Md./Leonardtown) gave St. Mary's its first lead of the match with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over senior Sean Purcell (East Falls, Pa./Episcopal Academy) at No. 4 singles.
Junior captain Mark Hardesty (Westminster, Md./Westminster) stretched the lead to 4-2 after outlasting sophomore Matthew Muoio (West Chester, Pa./Bayard Rustin), 7-6 (7-5), 0-6, 10-5 at No. 1 singles. Junior captain Robert Bishop (Hollywood, Md./Great Mills) then locked up the win for the Seahawks with a 7-5, 6-1 win over sophomore Ken Richardson (Downingtown, Pa./Downingtown West) at No. 2 singles.
First-year Evan Cuff (Ambler, Pa./Wissahickon) picked up his second win over junior Wyatt Paulishak (Frederick, Md./Middletown) with a 1-6, 6-2, 10-6 triumph at No. 3 singles for the Lions' third and final point. Cuff had handed Paulishak an 8-4 setback in the consolation quarterfinals of B5 Singles at the 2014 ITA Southeast Regional Championships in September.
Van Winter wrapped up the match with a shutout win, 6-0, 6-0 over Mitchell at No. 6 singles. Van Winter has now won five straight and remains undefeated at 5-0.
The Seahawks return to action this Saturday, March 21st as St. Mary's travels to York College of Pennsylvania to renew Capital Athletic Conference play. The match is scheduled for 11:00 a.m.
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