Men's Tennis Edged Out by Webb in Regular Season Finale

FLUSHING, N.Y.—The St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) men's tennis team dropped a narrow 5-4 decision to Webb Institute in their Hudson Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Conference and regular season finale on Tuesday afternoon at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.

The Bears (3-9, 2-3 HVIAC) conclude their regular season with a program-best three wins. Finishing in a three-way tie with matching 2-3 league records, Berkeley College takes third place, St. Joseph's fourth place and Webb Institute fifth place based on score differential tiebreaker rules.

Webb (2-3, 2-3 HVIAC) got out to an early lead winning the top two doubles matches before James Hanophy (Albertson, N.Y./Holy Trinity) and Carlos Mayorga (East Elmhurst, N.Y./St. John's Prep) prevailed 8-5 at No. 3 doubles over Satchel Douglas and Will Harris to give the Bears only a 2-1 deficit headed to singles.

Webb extended their lead with a 10-3 win at No. 5 singles, until the Bears rattled off three straight matches to jump ahead 4-3. Recognizing his strong play of late, Coach TC Huen elevated Matthew Smith (Brooklyn, N.Y./Monsignor McClancy) to No. 3 singles where he won his third singles match of the season, 10-6, over Kevin Prichard.

Kyle Johnson (Red Hook, N.Y./Red Hook Central) followed with a 10-8 victory in the No. 4 position over Nick Ratinaud and Nolan Parr (Red Hook, N.Y./Red Hook Central) secured a 10-6 triumph at No. 2 singles over Michael Walker. Parr's victory is the sixth singles win this season, third most in a single season in Bears history.

But the St. Joseph's lead would be short-lived as the Webbies took the final two singles matches for the win, Mayorga narrowly defeated at No. 6 singles, 10-8 and Kevin Caicedo (Jackson Heights, N.Y./Monsignor McClancy) falling 10-3 at No. 1 singles.

St. Joseph's will wrap up their 2015 campaign at the HVIAC Championships this Saturday, back at the National Tennis Center, starting at 1 p.m.