Men's Tennis Fights to Narrow 4-3 Win Over Morgan State on Homecoming

Sunday, January 31

Drexel Armory

12 p.m.

Drexel University

Morgan State

Photo by: Greg Carroccio

Men's Tennis Fights to Narrow 4-3 Win Over Morgan State on Homecoming

1/31/2016 5:39:00 PM | Men's Tennis

PHILADELPHIA – In what proved to be the toughest challenge thus far in the young season, Drexel men's tennis fought to a narrow 4-3 win over Morgan State on Sunday afternoon at the Armory on Drexel Homecoming Weekend.

After winning last season's matchup, 4-1, in a match that was much closer than the score indicated, the Dragons knew the Bears would be a handful. The doubles point proved to be the difference as Drexel improves to 4-0 overall on the year and 14-1 all-time against Morgan State

Drexel got important doubles wins from its two top pairs. Xabier Saavedra and Balaji Lakshmanan teamed up to take down Sagar Sathyanarayanan and Treajh Ferguson at No. 1, 6-2, to improve to 4-0 this season in dual play. Kashyap Ashok and Sinan Orhon would play a tighter match but they too came out on top, beating Evan Ward and Lucas Krusinski at No. 2, 6-4.

With the doubles point in hand, the Dragons turned their attention to singles play. None of the matches would come easy as four of the six singles matches went the distance. The senior leader Saavedra earned the widest margin of victory on the day, downing Ferguson, 6-1, 6-4. At Nos. 2 and 3, Andrew Sinai and Lakshmanan would each go to three sets. It was Lakshmanan, however, who would come out on top, defeating Ward after dropping the second set, 7-6 (2), 4-6, 6-3. Sinai couldn't hang onto the momentum after winning the first set, falling 3-6, 7-5, 6-3.

The back half of singles featured perhaps the tightest matches of the day, and the Dragons would need to win one to take the dual. Orhon battled his way back after getting blanked in the first set to win the second in a tiebreak, but Arjun Ramakrishnan took a close third set to win, 6-0, 6-7 (3), 11-9. Ashok also found himself on the down side of a marathon match. After taking the first set, he could not hang on, falling to Krusinski, 6-7 (5), 6-3, 10-8.

It would ultimately be Hamza Laalej who would seal the match win for the Dragons. He took care of business at No. 4, earning the straight set win over the Bears' Felix Andre, 7-5, 6-2. The sophomore from Morocco has picked up where he left off last season after missing the fall with a knee injury, improving his record to an unblemished 2-0.

With the win on Sunday, head coach Mehdi Rhazali moved into sole possession of third in all-time men's coaching wins at Drexel with 34 in just his fourth season.

The Dragons return to the court on Saturday, Feb. 6 when they travel to Lehigh for a match at 2 p.m.

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Drexel 4, Morgan State 3

Singles
Xabier Saavedra (DU) DEF Treajh Ferguson (MSU), 6-1, 6-4
Jeremy Field (MSU) DEF Andrew Sinai (DU), 3-6, 7-5, 6-3
Balaji Lakshmanan (DU) DEF Evan Ward (MSU), 7-6 (2), 4-6, 6-3
Hamza Laalej (DU) DEF Felix Andre (MSU), 7-5, 6-2
Arjun Ramakrishnan (MSU) DEF Sinan Orhon (DU), 6-0, 6-7 (3), 11-9
Lucas Krusinski (MSU) DEF Kashyap Ashok (DU), 6-7 (5), 6-3, 10-8

Doubles
Saavedra & Lakshmanan (DU) DEF Sathyanarayanan & Ferguson (MSU), 6-2
Ashok & Orhon (DU) DEF Ward & Krusinski (MSU), 6-4
Ramakrishnan & Field (MSU) DEF Laalej & Sinai (DU), 6-4