Syracuse, N.Y. - The No. 5 seeded St. Thomas Aquinas College Men's Tennis team opened the NCAA Division II East Regional Tournament with a 4-0 shutout victory over No. 4 seed Jefferson University on Monday afternoon at Drumlins Country Club.
STAC improves to 18-7 on the season and advances to one of the two East Region Finals against the top-seed and hosts from Le Moyne College. Meanwhile, Jefferson closes its run at 14-5.
The Spartans opened doubles action with a victory at the No. 3 position, as the team of Maximilian Kendler and Odysseas Papaioannou defeated Mateo Navarro and Odissey Kavak, 6-2. Then the duo of Eduard Simo and Ludovico Truffelli scored a 6-3 triumph over Hubert Theriault and German Lopez Andujar at the No. 1 spot to take the first team point from Jefferson.
When singles play commenced, STAC made quick work of the higher-seeded Rams, sweeping the first three individual competitions to pick up the overall victory and move on in the tournament. Odysseas Papaioannou dispatched his opponent, Mateo Navarro via a pair of 6-0, 6-0 wins at No. 4. Next, Lennart Lehmann battled Hannibal Borg, but ultimately took 6-4, 6-3 victories at No. 3. Finally, Ivan Laiz closed things out with identical 6-4, 6-4 successes against Odissey Kavak.
Provided by the St. Thomas Aquinas Sports Information Department.
