Flushing, N.Y. – The fourth-ranked Concordia Clippers men's tennis team swept Merrimack College in the finals of the NCAA East Region to earn a spot in the NCAA Round of 16 after claiming a 5-0 victory at the USTA National Tennis Center on Tuesday afternoon.
The match began as the No. 1 duo of senior Daniele Piludu (Cagliari, Italy) and junior Benas Majauskas (Vilnius, Lithuania) secured an 8-5 victory over Matt Pronesti and Chris Barnhart as did the No. 2 duo of senior Ricardo Frey (Curitiba, Brazil) and sophomore Rafael Ferreira (Sao Paulo, Brazil) over Miguel Belfort and Vince Bellino for Concordia. The Clippers would take the final doubles match 8-2 to take a 3-0 lead into singles action as the No. 3 duo of junior Tomasz Olfans (Opole, Poland) and freshman Pulat Babadjanov (Tashkent, Uzbekistan) defeated Nick Majewski and James Barnhart.
Concordia would earn a dominating win in the No. 6 singles match as Ferreira swept Majewski 6-0, 6-0 while sophomore Ofir Ginat (Raa'nana, Israel) claimed the final victory for the Clippers with a 6-2, 6-2 against Bellino. The remainder of the matches went unfinished.
With the match victory Concordia will now face Cameron in the Round of 16 in Altamonte Springs, Fla. The match is set to begin at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, May 14.