Box Score STEUBENVILLE - The Franciscan men's tennis team showed improvement despite their 6-3 home loss to Capital University on Thursday.
In a roster move that makes both his coaches and teammates anticipate the spring season, junior Jarek Sulak returned to the starting lineup. He and partner John Gallagher played down a spot at No. 2 doubles, and quickly displayed the chemistry which allowed them to anchor the No. 1 spot last season. Behind Sulak's aggressive volleys, they cruised to an 8-3 victory.
Sophomore RJ Watson lined up beside senior David Freytag at No. 1 doubles; despite their 8-3 loss, Coach Scott Greve was impressed by the rapport between the potential spring season doubles pair. Watson's two straight service games wins against the strong Capital opponents were especially encouraging.
An all-freshmen No. 3 doubles pairing quickly went to work on their opponent's groundstrokes. The quick wrists of freshman Walter Matt were well complemented by fellow freshmen's Jack Galla's quality net game. Matt and Galla dominated in every aspect of the matchup, and took away an 8-3 victory to show for it.
The Barons took a 2-1 match lead into singles. Sulak watched his teammates with his family from the sidelines, as he continues to rehab from last year's wrist injury.
Watson couldn't capitalize on a thrilling series of unbelievable backhand returns at No. 3 singles. His speed wasn't enough to prevent a 6-2, 6-4 defeat. One court over, Matt also fell by a score 6-2, 6-4. The scoreboard couldn't speak to the way his quick forehands kept his match hopes alive, even deep into the competition.
After dropping his first set by a double break 6-1, Galla's approach shots began clicking. He worked his opponent deeper into the backcourt, but was unable to capitalize on late service breaks, dropping his second set 7-5.
Gallagher also dropped his first set to his No. 1 singles Capital opponent, 6-3. He went down 1-2 in the second set, netting a backhand after long point. Gallagher was able to shake it off, and took the second set in a dominant fashion, 6-3. A ten-point tiebreaker was played in place of a full third set. After going down 3-8, Gallagher rallied to tie the score at 8-8, but was unable to capitalize on his own momentum and dropped the tiebreaker 10-8.
The last match of the day belonged to Freytag, who was in a ten-point tiebreaker of his own. This time, the tiebreaker belonged to Franciscan University. Freytag was unafraid to take the net during crucial points, and was rewarded with a 10-8 tiebreaker victory, and the match win.
oach Greve reacted positively to the Barons' efforts, despite their loss. "Across the board" he said, " the boys played well." He further said that the spring is looking up, because of the talent present on a stacked men's roster.
The Barons next take the courts in the spring. Voluntary training and offseason conditioning will become their focus as they attempt next semester to repeat as AMCC champions, and attain another NCAA Tournament bid.
