Men’s Tennis moved to 6-1 on the season after after winning two of three meets last week.
Elon
The Rams remain undefeated at home as they prevailed in a thrilling, close matchup against Elon University on Saturday, Feb. 4 by a final tally of 4-3.
The win improves VCU to 6-0 at home on the season, continuing their early hot streak.
The Rams got off to a slow start, dropping the first two doubles’ matches in the contest. However, veteran play from seniors Daryl Monfils and Marten Jonsson came into action as they were able to edge Elon 7-6. Monfils and Jonsson improved to 3-0 on the season in dual matches.
Freshmen Ignacio Rivero Crespo continues to impress. After an early 2-1 deficit, Crespo brought the score back to even, as he improves to 3-0 in convincing fashion 6-1, 6-1.
The back and forth action continued in the matchup, and everything depended on the last match on court 5. Freshmen play continued to power the Rams as Javier Amantegui managed to get a victory in a 3-set nail biter: 6-7, 7-5, 6-0.
Winthrop
After a tough loss on the road against Duke, VCU bounced back in convincing fashion as the dominated Winthrop at home 7-0 on Feb. 3.
The Rams got off to a fast start against Winthrop Friday in doubles as freshmen Javier Amantegui and sophomore Arvid Noren were victorious in their match, 6-1.
Monfils and Jonsson continued to impress in doubles play on the season. After Winthrop tied the Rams in doubles matches 1-1, the experienced duo persevered through a tough set and downed Gabriel Dias and Leandros Ppapyiannis of Winthrop to give VCU a lone doubles point. Monfils and Jonsson improved to 2-0 on the early season.
Contributions from freshmen players have been the story in the early season. Amantegui continues his great stretch of play as he notched a team high of 12 overall wins in singles play against Winthrop. Rivero Crespo continued his hot play as he defeated Dias, making him 2-0 early on in his career.
Duke
The Rams dropped their first tennis match of the season on the road against the Blue Devils of Duke University January 25.
VCU traveled to Durham, North Carolina to take on a tough opponent. The Blue Devils came into the match ranked 25 in the nation by the ITA. This was a test for the Rams, who came into the meet on a 4 match win streak with hopes of capturing a statement victory early in the season.
The Rams got off to a slow start in doubles, dropping the first two matches of the contest 6-4, then 6-1. But in the 3rd and final doubles match, Jonsson and Amantegui would win a close conclusive set and come out on top, 7-5.
However, after the early doubles wins by the Blue Devils, Duke did not look back as they strung together 5 consecutive singles wins. Rivero Crespo managed to notch the only points for the Rams on the day by winning a tight 3 set match against Robert Levine 7-6(7-1), 5-6, 1-0(10-7).
The Rams look to continue their strong play in the early part of the season as they travel to Penn State University this upcoming Friday, Feb. 10.
Rodney Robinson, Contributing Writer
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