RIVERSIDE, R.I. – The Regis College men's tennis team dropped a close 5-4 match against the Wildcats of Johnson & Wales (R.I.) Saturday evening.
The match started with the pairing of Owen Pelissier and Sebastian Torres bested the pairing of Will Lyons and Gianni Rodrigues 8-1. The Wildcats responded with a 8-4 victory, which was followed by a Regis win by Cam Charbonneau and Matt DaRosso in third doubles, 8-7. Regis led 2-1 after the doubles portion of the day.
Evan Russell would kick off singles play with a 6-1, 6-2 victory in sixth singles. Johnson & Wales' Rodrigues topped Charbonneau with a 6-4, 6-2 victory to close the deficit to one. The Wildcats would even up the match with a victory in third singles that Franz Fonck won 6-3, 6-4.
With the match evened up at 3-3 Nolan Bebarta would give the Pride an edge with a 7-6 (5), 6-2 victory in first singles putting the Pride up 4-3. Steven Heizler tied up the match with a 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 three set victory at fifth singles.
With second singles to go, Johnson & Wales' Alex Rohana would comeback from a set down to top his opponent 4-6, 7-5, 6-0 for the victory.
Johnson & Wales (7-4, 3-0 GNAC) will play Salem State on Tuesday, Apr. 9. Their next conference match will be against Eastern Nazarene on Saturday, Apr. 13.
Regis (6-10, 0-2 GNAC) will play on Tuesday, Apr. 9, against Suffolk at the Regis Tennis Center at 4:30 p.m. They will then wait until Saturday, Apr. 13 to play Colby-Sawyer on their home courts.