Denver, Colo. - Rares Ispas capped a four-hour match for the NYIT men's tennis program with his 6-3 third set victory en route to the team's 5-4 decision over the University of Indianapolis. The match started at approximately 9:00 p.m. MT Wednesday and dipped into the early hour of Thursday, but the Bears will advance to the NCAA Elite 8 for the first time in program history.
After several hours of delay Wednesday evening, the Bears and Greyhounds finally got under way under the lights at the Gates Tennis Center. The University of Indianapolis earned the first point at third doubles with an 8-3 victory over Rafal Charkiewicz and Rares Ispas but the pair of Jorge Gonzales Soler and Matej Selecky were able to even the score at one apiece with an 8-6 decision. Much like the women's team finished in their morning match, the second flight was decided by tiebreak. Tomas Lieb and Alexandre Martinez fought tirelessly but were outlasted by Magnus Mueller and Christoph Dreschler, who went up 7-5 to help the Greyhounds to lead 2-1 after doubles.
Selecky found continued success at second singles, winning over Dreschler 6-4, 6-0 to even the score at two apiece. At the no. 1 flight, David Jiang fell to #32 Arklon Huertas Del Pino, which put the Hounds back on top, with four singles matches still in action. All remaining flights dropped their first sets but came back with second set victories to remain alive in the match.
Lieb, after falling 6-2 in the first set came back to win by an identical score and forced a third set in which he topped Mueller 6-4 to even the match score at three. The game was a back-and-forth fight as Indianapolis returned the point with a win at fifth singles but NYIT was able to earn victories at the final two to take the match. Charkiewicz was the second to last to finish, but took 6-2, 6-1 wins from Luke Hubert after dropping the opening set, 4-6.
It all came down to Ispas after he found himself in the same boat as his previous three teammates. Andrea Morlet of UIndy won the first set 3-6 but the Romania native came back to win a 6-4 anda thrilling 6-3 third set to win the match for the Bears.
NYIT will face No. 2 Armstrong in the NCAA Men's Tennis Quarterfinals on Thursday, May 19 at 2:00 p.m. at the Gates Tennis Center in Denver, Colorado.
Provided by the NYIT Sports Information Department.
