HILTON HEAD, S.C. – The Defiance College Men's Tennis Team (3-1) escaped with a 5-4 win over Emory & Henry College (1-5) Sunday afternoon in the PTR Spring TennisFest at Chaplin Park.
Defiance got out to a 2-1 lead after the doubles portion of the match. Sophomore Alex Minasyan (Moscow, RUSSIA) and freshman Kamil Aliev (Moscow, RUSSIA) claimed an 8-4 victory at number two doubles while junior John Hanlon (Bristol, Tenn.) and sophomore Jonathan Romano (Bland, Va.) came up just short, 8-6, at the third doubles flight.
Minasyan made it two wins on the day as he picked up a 6-1 6-3 victory at the premier singles pairing. Freshman John Ferguson (Gate City, Va.) won, 6-1 6-0, at No. 2 singles while Romano claimed a 6-1 6-2 win at the sixth singles flight.
Aliev battled until the very last in his singles match. After dropping the first set 6-4, he came back to even the match with a 6-4 win in the second set. The third set was played as a 10-point super-tiebreak, with Ryan Nelson of Defiance coming through with a 10-8 win to seal the match.
Emory & Henry will play a pair of matches tomorrow, beginning with an 8:30 a.m., meeting with Ohio Wesleyan University. The Wasps will take on the Lions of Eastern Nazarene University at 2:00 p.m.
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