March 3, 2007
STAMFORD, Conn. - Senior Zachary Morrison (Los Angeles, Calif./Loyola) picked up the deciding victory at third singles to help the Fairfield men's tennis defeat Monmouth, 4-3, on Friday night. With the victory, the Stags improve to 3-1 while Monmouth falls to 5-7.
The decision came down to the final match on court: Morrison versus Pedro Bruno at No. 3 singles. After dropping the first set, Morrison rallied back to take the 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 victory.
Fairfield opened the day by winning the doubles point. At No. 1 doubles, senior Jonathan Fernando (Verona, N.J.) and sophomore Chip Palumbo (Winchester, Mass.) defeated Ben Evenden and Tom Corrie, 8-6. After junior Balazs Szikla (Budapest, Hungary/Austrian) and freshman Ryan Berthod (White Plains, N.Y./Iona Prep) fell to Vik Gupta and Tim McLane, 8-6, at No. 2 doubles, junior Morrison and junior Glen Gannon (Chatham, N.J./Chatham) sealed the point with an 8-5 victory against Bruno and Corey Forrest.
All the matches were hard-fought battles. At No. 1 singles, Evendon was able to slip by Fernando, 2-6, 6-4, 7-6(5). Tie-breakers were also the trend at No. 2 singles as Berthod fell to Corrie, 7-6(5), 7-6(6). At No. 4 singles, Palumbo was unable to gain the advantage as Forrest picked up the 6-2, 7-6 (6).
At No. 5 singles, Szikla defeat McLane, 6-3, 6-2 while Gannon downed Gupta, 6-3, 6-1, to set up the deciding match.
Fairfield will head to Florida for Spring Break which begins with a match against Carthage College on March 11.
