MIAMI SHORES, Fla. – Barry University men’s tennis team beat No. 46 New York Institute of Technology, 7-2, Thursday in its first match in a week to improve to 14-1.
The No. 1-ranked Buccaneers got the Bears’ best effort at the top doubles flight when Julio Pulido and Matej Selecky defeated Ahmed Triki and Ollie Lemaitre, who earned the top ranking in the South Region as a doubles team this week, 9-8 (8-6). It was the first loss of the year in six matches for the midseason-assembled Bucs top tandem.
Leo Vivas and Romain Costamagna, who cracked into the South’s pairs rankings at No. 10, had no trouble with Rafal Charkiewicz and Nicolas Heintz, winning 8-2 at No. 2. And Kevin Sielmann and Renato Lombardi did their part in defeating Nicolas Auruccio and Jamie Salvador, 8-4, at No. 3 doubles.
That sent the Buccaneers into singles with a 2-1 lead.
Barry didn’t disappoint in singles, winning five of the six matches to secure the seventh win over a nationally-ranked opponent this season.
No. 12-ranked Fabian Groetsch defeated Charkiewicz in straight sets, 6-3, 6-1, at No. 1, erasing the memory of back-to-back singles losses. Costamagna, playing at No. 2 for the fifth time this season, beat Auruccio in straight sets, 6-2, 6-3. He improved to 4-1 in matches at the No. 2 spot.
Pulido picked up the Bears’ lone singles win, beating the 37th-ranked Vivas, 6-2, 7-5, at No. 3. In the last match to finish, Barry’s Nico Dreer held on for a 6-2, 7-6 (13-11) win over Heintz at the No. 4 spot in the lineup for his team-leading 10th win of the season. Lombardi improved to 9-0 with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Selecky at No. 5. Sielmann, ranked No. 41 in the country, made quick work of Tomas Lieb, 6-0, 6-2, to improve to 9-1.
The Bucs improved to 39-6 in doubles matches and 69-17 in singles play.
Barry will host No. 5 Hawai’i Pacific noon Saturday at Buccaneer Tennis Center.