Men's tennis saddled with first loss

By Olivia Biagi
Collegian Editor
September 26, 2007

Despite entering Saturday’s away match boasting a confident 3-0 record, the Explorers fell to Mount St. Mary’s in a disappointing 6-1 loss.

“[Saturday we played] for real,” head coach Ed Colfer said. “The first three teams didn’t have depth; Mount St. Mary’s has a lot of depth.”

The Mount started strong and won two of the three doubles matches played, earning them the first team point of the day. In first doubles, La Salle freshman George Gennaoui and sophomore Jonathon Maula went down 8-5 to Derek Taylor and Andrew Marinucci.

At number two doubles, the Explorers lost a close one again, as another freshman-sophomore duo, Andrew Petrusky and Ryan Knarr, fell 8-6 to Favio Osorio and Patrick Plastow. Finally, sophomore Matt Rivera and senior Eric Glick clinched a 9-7 win over Thad Mosthowtt and Rob Dupaya.

The scores for the single matches, however, were not as close. At first singles, Gennauoi suffered his first loss of the season in straight sets to Osorio, 6-0, 6-4.

Rivera fought hard in the number two position, winning the second set, but lost overall 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 to Marunucci.

Glick, at third singles, also managed a second set win, but couldn’t close the match, ending with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 loss to Paslow.

At number four, Maula played for three hours, securing yet another second set win with a tiebreaker score of 7-5. Still, he was unable to finish the job, falling 6-2, 6-7, 6-4, his first loss of the season.

Knarr suffered a straight set loss at 6-2, 6-4 to Taylor, but the final singles player on the ladder, Petrusky, succeeded over Dupaya with a 6-2, 6-1 win, remaining undefeated with a 4-0 record, and never dropping a set.

“This [was] the first real test of the season,” Colfer said.

A 3-1 record, however, is a good start toward one of the goals Colfer hopes to achieve this year.

“[We want] a good record for the seniors,” Colfer said. “Everything is for the seniors this year.”

Next up for the Explorers are two home matches. They will face Fordham Saturday at 11 a.m., and St. Peter’s at 2 p.m. Sunday.

biagio1@lasalle.edu