Men’s Tennis Earns First Victory of Season

ORLANDO, Fla. – Regis College quickly rebounded from a loss earlier in the day, defeating King's College, 9-0, Tuesday night in a non-conference men's collegiate tennis dual match at the USTA National Campus.

The Pride started the evening by sweeping the doubles sets, beginning with a victory by Jayson Vega (Ponce, Puerto Rico) and Sebastian Torres (San Juan, Puerto Rico) at number three doubles, 8-3. Seniors Nolan Bebarta (Danville, Calif.) and Evan Russell (East Wareham, Mass.) combined for an 8-4 victory at number two doubles, and juniors Johnny Pallotta (Bay Shore, N.Y.) and Owen Pelissier (Hingham, Mass.) closed out the doubles sweep with a hard-fought 8-6 win in the first doubles position.

The final score was not an indicator of how competitive the singles matches were, as three of the six needed a super-tiebreaker after the first two sets were split. Pelissier cruised to a victory at number four singles in straight sets (6-1, 6-0), and then Pallotta clinched the match for Regis after his opponent was forced to retire due to injury after Pallotta won the first set 6-1 and took a 2-0 lead in the second set.

Bebarta at number two singles, Mitchell Weiner (Plano, Texas) in the third singles position, and Matt DaRosso (Yonkers, N.Y.) at number five singles all won the first set, lost the second set, and then prevailed in the super-tiebreaker. In the number six singles position, Lenny Tam (Waltham, Mass.) was able to come out ahead in a first-set tiebreaker on his way to a straight set victory.

In a 9-0 loss to Saint John's University earlier Tuesday, Weiner played the closest match against the Johnnies, winning eight games before dropping the contest in straight sets (6-4. 6-4).

Regis College (1-6) will enjoy Wednesday in Florida before returning to action Thursday, March 5, once again playing under the lights at the USTA National Campus against Midway University starting at 6:30 p.m.