COBLESKILL MEN’S TENNIS DEFEATS HOLYOKE CC 5-4 IN HOME OPENER

First-year SUNY Cobleskill men’s tennis coach Scott Hill was all smiles on Monday evening after his Fighting Tigers opened the home portion of the 2006 season with a dramatic 5-4 decision over visiting Holyoke Community College from Holyoke, MA at the Cobleskill Tennis Complex. The Panthers were the defending NJCAA Region XXI champions having placed eighth at the 2005 NJCAA Division III National Championships. With the victory the Fighting Tigers even their record at 1-1 on the year.

The match was tied at 4-4 when the Fighting Tiger number three doubles team of senior Justin Friedman, Dobbs Ferry, NY, Carmel High School, and freshman Perry Gould, Cortlandt Manor, NY, Hendrick Hudson High School, defeated their opponents by a 10-6 margin to secure the contest for Cobleskill. Gould had earlier won at the number four singles spot for the Fighting Tigers by scores of 7-5 and 6-4 while Friedman had won a hard fought match at the number five singles position by scores of 7-5 and 7-5.

Cobleskill number one singles Steve Weiss, North Getzville, NY, Williamsville North High School, pushed his season record to 2-0 on the year winning in three sets by scores of 6-4, 5-7 and 6-3. The Fighting Tigers also won at the number three singles spot as senior Derek Norberg, Middleburgh, NY, Middleburgh High School, won by scores of 7-5 and 6-2.

“Everything came down to the number three doubles where Perry Gould and Justin Friedman did a great job of coming through under pressure,” said Coach Hill. “There were a number of matches that could have swung either way today and I thought we did a great job of maintaining our poise and playing through the rocky points of the match. We’re now going to try to build off this momentum the rest of the season.”

The Fighting Tigers will next be in action on Wednesday April 5th when they travel to Delhi, NY to meet the Broncos of Delhi Tech beginning at 4:00 PM.