Men’s Tennis Earns Second Straight Win, Defeats UMass Dartmouth, 8-1

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The Suffolk men's tennis team put back-to-back victories together for the first time this season as the Rams took down UMass Dartmouth, 8-1, Thursday night at Buckingham, Browne & Nichols. 

THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 8, UMass Dartmouth 1
RECORDS: Suffolk (5-6) | UMass Dartmouth (5-7) 

HOW IT HAPPENED
Suffolk swept doubles play to gain a 3-0 lead. Rami Esrawi and Kevin Greenman broke open the scoring with an 8-1 decision in the second slot over Zach Pavao and Mark Desmond. Charles Tang and David Grujic followed with an 8-4 win at No. 3 versus Pat O'Neil and Thomas Yong, before Ariel Ilarslan Russo and Mike DeFelice punctuated the doubles sweep behind an 8-5 triumph as the Rams' top tandem over Anthony Joseph and Eli Brooks. 

The Rams carried their winning ways into singles play and sealed the match victory with wins on court five and one. Tang defeated O'Neil, 6-0, 6-3, at No. 5, before Ilarslan Russo downed Tristin Viale, 6-0, 6-1, in the first position. 

The Corsairs gained their lone point of the evening in the second spot and it was all blue-and-gold from there with Suffolk winning courts three, four and six for the final 8-1 margin. 

NOTEWORTHY

• Suffolk coupled consecutive wins together for the first time this season and first time since April 15-20, 2017.
• Ilarslan Russo continues his unbeaten streak as Suffolk's ace. The rookie improves to 7-0 on the season. 

RESULTS

SINGLES

1 – Ariel Ilarslan Russo (Suffolk) defeated Tristin Viale (UMass Dartmouth), 6-0, 6-1
2 – Eli Brooks (UMass Dartmouth) defeated Mike DeFelice (Suffolk), 9-7, 7-4
3 – Rami Esrawi (Suffolk) defeated Zach Pavo (UMass Dartmouth), 6-2, 6-4
4 – Kevin Greenman (Suffolk) defeated Mark Desmond (UMass Dartmouth), 6-3, 4-6, 10-6
5 – Charles Tang (Suffolk) defeated Pat O'Neil (UMass Dartmouth), 6-0, 6-3
6 – David Grujic (Suffolk) defeated Thomas Youg (UMass Dartmouth), 8-2 

DOUBLES

1 – Ariel Ilarslan Russo/Mike DeFelice (Suffolk) defeated Anthony Joseph/Eli Brooks (UMass Dartmouth), 8-5
2 – Rami Esrawi/Kevin Greenman (Suffolk) defeated Zach Pavao/Mark Desmond (UMass Dartmouth), 8-1
3 – Charles Tang/David Grujic (Suffolk) defeated Pat O'Neil/Thomas Yong (UMass Dartmouth), 8-4 

ORDER OF FINISH (D) 2, 3, 1 (S) 5, 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 

WHAT'S NEXT?
Suffolk concludes regular season GNAC action at Norwich Saturday, April 21. First serve is set for 1 p.m.