March 3, 2008

LEWISTON, N.Y. - St. Bonaventure men's tennis team dropped a hard-fought match to Niagara, 4-2, on Sunday afternoon.

The Bonnies are now 2-5 in the spring season.

The story of the day was Niagara's ability to win close the close matches. The Purple Eagles won the doubles point by winning all three matches, including a pair that went into tie-breakers.

Singles play was much of the same as Niagara earned a point by winning the top four matches, including three that advanced to the third set.

Sophomore Diego Valdenegro was the lone Bonnie to win a three set thriller, coming back to defeat Marc Dickinson, 4-6, 7-5 and 6-4. Freshman Mikhail Sudakov claimed the other Bona points at No. 6 singles taking down Joe Heckley in straight sets 6-2, 6-2.

St. Bonaventure will make the trip to Ohio for a pair of matches against Atlantic 10 foes. The Bonnies will take on Dayton on Saturday at 4 p.m. to start the road trip.

Niagara 4, St. Bonaventure 2
Singles
1. Walter Garcia (NIA) def. Leo Mochizuki - 6-2, 6-1
2. Alex Abji (NIA) def. Jonathan Luce - 6-3, 1-6, 6-3
3. Roman Sillin (NIA) & Victor Lecina - 6-4, 5-7, 3-3 (DNF)
4. Collin Laffey (NIA) def. Chris Post - 3-6, 6-3, 6-3
5. Diego Valdenegro def. Marc Dickinson - 4-6, 7-5, 6-4
6. Mikhail Sudakov def. Joe Heckley - 6-2, 6-2

Doubles
1. Dickinson/Sillin (NIA) def. Luce/Post - 9-8 (7-5)
2. Garcia/Abji (NIA) def. Mochizuki/Lecina - 8-7 (7-4)
3. Steve Kopf/Laffey (NIA) def. Sudakov/Enric Larregola - 8-4