March 18, 2005

Baltimore, Md. - Quinnipiac topped both Loyola's men's and women's tennis teams on Friday afternoon, dropping the men 5-2 and the women 7-0. The non-conference loss is only the second of the season for both programs, both of which will be in action this weekend.

On the men's side, Loyola captured the doubles' point with victories at No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3. The tandem of Trevor McDonough and Nick Bowers pulled out a thrilling 9-8 win in No. 1 doubles while Scott Gannon and John Curran captured No. 2 doubles with an 8-4 score. In the third doubles' match, Dan Schiemel and Ben Epstein won 8-5.

Epstein was also victorious in No. 6 singles, winning 6-2 and 7-5. In No. 1 singles, McDonough lost a heartbreaker to Mike Racioppo, falling in the third set tiebreaker. Schiemel (No. 3 singles) and Curran (No. 5) also fell in three sets, giving the Bobcats a very narrow 5-2 win.

On the women's side, Quinnipiac won the singles matches in straight sets and captured the doubles point with a close 9-8 win in the No. 3 doubles. Loyola's duo of Claire Najour and Stefanie Clay took the Quinnipiac No. 3 tandem to a sixth tiebreaker. Amy Nitch played No. 1 singles while Jessica Liberatore competed at No. 2 singles for the `Hounds.

Both the men and women head to Philadelphia to play LaSalle this Saturday at 11 a.m.