March 18, 2006

Box Score

Baltimore, Md. - The Loyola men's and women's tennis teams split their matches with LaSalle on Saturday afternoon at the Butler Courts. The men dropped a tough 4-3 decision while the women came away with a 6-1 victory.

In men's competition, the Greyhounds were edged out in the doubles point. Freshman Sean Wall and sophomore Chad Morrow won the No. 2 doubles match, 8-4, but a hard-fought No. 1 doubles competition in which the sophomore tandem of Ben Epstein and Scott Gannon fell 8-6, gave the point to LaSalle.

Gannon rebounded in singles play, winning 6-3, 7-5 at No. 2. Wall also won in straight sets, taking the No. 3 match 6-3, 6-0 while freshman Sean Kraft won at No. 6 singles, 6-1, 6-2. Morrow played in the deciding singles match and battled back after dropping the first set 3-6, winning his second set 7-6 before falling in the third.

On the women's side, Loyola swept the doubles competition with seniors Amy Nitch and Jessica Liberatore taking the No. 1 match 8-0. Junior Christi Lazar and sophomore Meagan McKenna won the No. 2 doubles match, 8-6, clinching the point while Stefanie Clay and Mallory Tarca made it a clean sweep in doubles with an 8-3 win at No. 3.

Nitch led off the singles competition with a 7-5, 6-3 win at No. 1 while McKenna (6-3, 6-3) and Clay (6-1, 6-2) won in straight sets at No. 3 and No. 4 singles respectively. Liberatore earned a 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 win at No. 2 while Tarca captured a point at No. 5 singles, winning 6-4, 6-7, 6-1.

The men's team is now 3-4 on the year and will play its third match in three days when it hosts the District of Columbia at Butler Courts tomorrow afternoon. The women, now 4-2 on the season, are off until Friday, March 24 when the travel to Delaware State.