1-1 week for Explorer men's tennis

By Olivia Biagi
Collegian Editor
October 3, 2007

Following their first loss of the season to Mt. St. Mary’s Sept. 22, the Explorer men’s tennis team came back big on Tuesday, the first of three straight home matches, with a dominating 6-1 win over the University of Sciences - Philadelphia.

La Salle started off strong in the opening doubles matches, claiming the first team point of the match. Sophomore Ryan Knarr and freshman Andy Petrusky won in second doubles. In third doubles, sophomore Christian Harvey and senior Erick Glick were victorious.

In singles, freshman George Gennaoui took a 6-1, 6-2 victory in the number one slot, and sophomore Matt Rivera won 6-2, 6-1 at number two. At number three singles, Glick played straight sets for a 6-3, 6-2 win in under an hour, and in fifth singles Knarr flew through a 30 minute match with a 6-0, 6-0 win. At number four, sophomore Jon Maula fell in his three set match 6-2, 2-6, 7-5.

The Explorers kept up the momentum on Saturday, clinching a close 4-3 win against Fordham. Fordham took the first point of the match in doubles, where both second and third doubles teams (Knarr and Petrusky; Harvey and Glick) lost 8-4. In singles, Gennaoui, Glick and junior Chris Butera won in straight sets, and Rivera and Petrusky both fell in three sets.

“It was a close match on Saturday,” head coach Ed Colfer said. “It was a really good match. It came down to Jon Maula; he clinched it for us.”

Maula fought hard in another three-set match. He lost the first set 2-6, but came back strong in the second set at 6-4, and finally closed the match in the third set with a 6-2 win.

Unfortunately, the Explorers didn’t stay strong through the weekend, and lost Sunday to St. Peter’s College 6-1. First doubles Gennaoui and Maula led 7-4, and then lost five straight games to St. Peter’s, turning their lead into a 9-7 loss. Petrusky and Knarr were close at second doubles, falling 8-6, and Glick and Rivera lost 8-5.

“Once again, our doubles didn’t execute well,” Colfer told goexplorers.com. “We either started slow, or [were] lagging off at the end. It was not a good performance coming out of the gates today, and we need to work harder in the future to win the doubles point and get the momentum on our side early.”

Gennaoui earned the only point for La Salle with a 6-4, 6-4 win, while Knarr fell 6-2, 6-3. Maula went three sets for the fourth time last week, but wasn’t able to close and lost 4-6, 6-1, 6-1. Glick fell short in the first set, losing the tiebreaker, and lost 7-6, 6-2. Rivera had another close one, but lost in straight sets 6-4, 7-5.

“We’re a young team right now,” Colfer said. “We’re falling short. We just try to win the match as soon as possible.”

At a respectable 5-2 record, the Explorers face a tough week. They will play a home match against Philadelphia University Thursday at 3:30 p.m., and then they will travel to Rhode Island Saturday.

biagio1@lasalle.edu