Men’s Tennis dominated last weekend, winning two matches on Saturday and one on Sunday in Little Silver, NJ, sweeping two of their opponents and extending their winning streak to eight matches.
“The season is looking good so far,” said junior Max Benaim. “We are 10-1, which gives us a lot of confidence going into conference tournament. We’re just going to keep training hard and do what we’re doing. The goal is definitely to win the conference again and then go further.”
Monmouth’s first match of the weekend was at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday against Saint Joseph’s, where they won 7-0. The Hawks were victorious in all six single matches, beginning with senior Srdjan Jakovljevic’s 6-4 and then 7-5 win.
Senior Nicola Pipoli won his match, 6-2 and 6-3 before Benaim won his by a combined score of 12-1. Senior Alberto Giuffrida defeated his opponent 6-4 and 6-2 while junior Sergio Martinez got his win in the form of 6-4 and 7-6 score lines. Freshman Austin Klapman finished out the singles portion with 6-0 and 6-3 wins.
In doubles, Pipoli and sophomore Will Cooke Wharton won their match 6-1 and Benaim and Martinez won theirs 6-2. Freshman Sacha Pachnev and sophomore David Weltz won by a score of 6-1.
Later that day, the Hawks took on Sacred Heart, where they also won by a final score of 7-0. In singles, two of the matchups were forced to a third round. Jakovljevic won in that round 10-5 and Cooke Wharton won his tie-breaker 11-9. Monmouth went on to win their doubles matches 6-4, 6-5, and 6-3, respectively.
On Sunday, Monmouth welcomed the New York Institute of Technology (NYIT), where they ultimately got the 6-1 win.
The singular loss for the Hawks came in singles, where Weltz fell 6-3 and 6-1 to his opponent. The largest margin of victory and the only zero of the match came in singles as well, where Benaim defeated his matchup 6-0 before winning the second round 6-4.
Head Coach Chris Leicht shared similar feelings to Benaim on his team’s positive start to the season.
“We are excited and ready to get into the conference portion of our season,” he said. “We have had some exciting wins over strong programs like St. John’s, Georgetown, and George Washington. We have some very aggressive team goals, and the ultimate one is to win the MAAC (Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference) and represent Monmouth University in the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) National Tourney.”
Men’s Tennis will open up conference play the next time that they are in action, which is on Saturday when they will travel to Fairfield for a 12:00 p.m. match.
The following day, Monmouth will continue their road trip to Loudonville, NY, to battle Siena at 2:00 p.m.
PHOTO TAKEN by Karlee Sell