Tennis Beats Wheaton To Win 9th Straight NEWMAC Tournament
Top-seeded MIT outlasted No. 2 Wheaton College, 5-3, en route to its ninth consecutive New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Men’s Tennis Championship.
The Engineers (13-5) and the Lyons (11-5) have met in the title match for the past three seasons, with this year’s match-up being the closest in tournament history. MIT and Wheaton posted 5-0 wins over No. 4 Babson College and No. 3 Springfield College, respectively, in the semi-final round.
Wheaton opened the championship match with a pair of 8-2 decisions in the No. 3 and No. 2 doubles positions. MIT’s top tandem of Thomas H. Dohlman ’07 and Eric A Beren ’08 defeated Payum Payman and Brad Dressler, 8-4, to put the Engineers on the board.
Ryan W. Castonia ’09 evened the match at two after his 6-0, 6-2 victory over Kyle Hudgins in the No. 6 singles slot. Steady rain forced the competition inside and following the brief delay, Beren put MIT ahead with his 6-0, 6-3 win in the No. 2 position. Payman defeated Dohlman, 6-4, 6-2, in the No. 1 position which tied the match at three. Melvin C. Makhni ’07 gave the Engineers the lead for good following his 6-4, 6-2 decision over Raymour Radhakrishnan.
In the No. 4 spot, Peden P. Nichols ’09 won the first set against Will Stoddard, 6-1, but fell 7-6 in the second set. Nichols bounced back with a 6-2 victory to secure the title. The only unfinished match of the day was in the No. 3 slot, where MIT’s Mark D. Egan ’07 was leading Dressler, 2-6, 7-5, 5-0.