Men's Tennis' Spectacular Season Concludes as Spartans Edged By Le Moyne, 4-3 in NCAA Tournament

Posted: Apr 28, 2023

Flushing, N.Y. - The St. Thomas Aquinas College Men's Tennis team's spectacular 2022-23 Season came to a close on Friday, as the Spartans were edged by Le Moyne College, 4-3 in an East Regional Semifinal match, which was held at the Queens College Tennis Center.

STAC closes its campaign with a 17-3 overall record and a 5-1 ECC mark, while Le Moyne advances to the NCAA Region Final, against top seed and hosts, Queens College on Saturday afternoon.

The Dolphins took two of three doubles matches to earn their first team point, winning in the first and second pairs positions, with a STAC victory by the #3 duo of Tony Khamassi and Ondrej Sramek sandwiched in between. When the sides moved to singles competition, Le Moyne took a quick 3-0 lead on the strength of wins at number one and three. The Spartans fought back and captured three straight victories at the number #5 (Ondrej Sramek), #2 (Ludovico Truffelli) and #6 (Don Vinz Lominoque) positions. Unfortunately, Le Moyne would take a hard fought, three set battle between #4 Kacper Piekarek and Lennart Lehmann to advance to Saturday's final, while eliminating the maroon and gold from the postseason.

LE MOYNE 4/STAC 3 - OFFICIAL RESULTS

DOUBLES

1. Ethan Miller & Tom Jarry (LEM) def. Odysseas Papaioannou & Ludovico Truffelli (STAC), 7-5

2. Peter Hatton & Manuel Righi (LEM) def. Tobias Fuerschuss & Don Vinz Lominoque (STAC), 6-1

3. Tony Khamassi & Ondrej Sramek (STAC) def. Rodrigo Beires & Kacper Piekarek (LEM), 6-4

Order of Finish: 1, 3, 2*

SINGLES

1. Peter Hatton (LEM) def. Odysseas Papaioannou (STAC) 6-0, 6-0

2. Ludovico Truffelli (STAC) def. Tom Jarry (LEM) 7-5, 7-5

3. Manuel Righi (LEM) def. Tobias Fuerschuss (STAC) 6-2, 6-1

4. Kacper Piekarek (LEM) def. Lennart Lehmann (STAC) 6-3, 4-6, 6-2

5. Ondrej Sramek (STAC) def. Ethan Miller (LEM) 6-4, 6-4

6. Don Vinz Lominoque (STAC) def. Alberto Diaz (LEM) 7-5, 6-4

Order of Finish: 1, 3, 5, 2, 6, 4*

#4 STAC Record: 17-3, 5-1 ECC (#48 ITA)

#5 Le Moyne Record: 14-4, 5-1 NE10

THE ROCKHILL REPORT

"We were obviously hoping for a different result today but Le Moyne was able to pull out the close matches and was just a little bit tougher", stated Head Coach Dan Rockhill.

"We had a great season but perhaps we peaked a bit too early and then struggled with injuries that prevented us from performing at the level required to win matches in the NCAA tournament."

"The doubles point proved to be crucial and we unfortunately handed our opponents too many free points. We have been struggling to have strong starts this season and that really cost us in this one."

"Our young players stepped up however and that should give STAC fans something to look forward to next season", commented Rockhill. "I am excited for the future of Spartan tennis.

"I am grateful for the team’s hard work and dedication. In addition, I am so thankful for the coaching staff that gave so much time and effort. We had plenty of great moments this year that I will not soon forget."

"It is difficult to say goodbye to our seniors and grad students who will leave us this year but I hope they had a great experience, learned something, made life-long friends and will make great contributions to this world", said Rockhill. "I will enjoy watching them go out and continue to do the hard things well."