Doubles Decisive as Merrimack Slips Past Bentley 5-4
HAVERHILL, Mass. – Bentley and Merrimack split the singles matches, but the Warriors carried their 2-1 edge from doubles to a 5-4 victory over the men's tennis team in the Northeast-10 opener for both squads on Saturday afternoon.
Bentley won the No. 1, No. 5 and No. 6 singles matches, but Merrimack's wins in No. 1 and 2 doubles proved to be the difference.
Junior Brendan McCarthy (Falmouth, Maine/Falmouth) carried the top singles match for Bentley, with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Mikhail Belov. Sophomore Michael Fuca (Manchester/Manchester-Essex) took a 6-3, 6-4 win in the No. 5 match over Tayyab Skeikh, and freshman Kendall Au (Essex Fells, N.J./West Essex) topped Alex Slobin, 6-3, 6-3 in the No. 6 match.
In doubles, Bentley's point came from Fuca and Brett Gilman (Mahwah, N.J./Mahwah), who defeated Sheikh and Slobin 8-2 in the No. 3 match. Merrimack took close wins in the No. 1 match by an 8-6 score, and the No. 2 match by an 8-5 score.
The defeat dropped Bentley's record to 2-4 on the season. They will next embark on their annual spring break trip, which opens on Sunday, March 5 at Webber International.