Niagara Men’s Tennis Improves to 3-0

NIAGARA UNIVERSITY, N.Y. - The Niagara University men's tennis team ran its record to 3-0 Friday night (Feb. 10, 2006) with a 6-1 victory over Mercyhurst College at the Sportsplex in North Tonawanda.

The Purple Eagles won their third consecutive doubles point, winning two of the three matches, to take a 1-0 lead in the match. The sophomore doubles team of Walter Garcia (Oaxaca, Mexico) and Alex Abji (Vancouver, B.C.) defeated Lee Marnik and Lucas Krasowski, 8-1. Freshmen Dawson Peare (Gormley, Ont.) and Steve Kopf (Grand Island, N.Y) beat David Smith and Rick Fowler, 8-1.

In singles, Garica beat Mariano Fava 6-4, 7-6 (5) at No. 1, Abji downed Marnik, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 at No. 2, freshman Marc Dickinson (Saskatoon, Sask.) defeated Dan Hersch, 6-4, 2-6, 6-2, at No. 3, Peare beat Fowler 6-0, 6-0 at No. 5 and Kopf downed Smith, 6-4, 6-2 at No. 6.

Niagara Men’s Tennis Wins First Conference Match of the Year

NIAGARA UNIVERSITY, N.Y. – The Niagara University men’s tennis team (4-0, 1-0) won its first Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference match of the season and remain undefeated with a 7-0 shut out of Saint Peter’s College (3-4, 0-2) late Saturday night (Feb. 11, 2006) at the Sportsplex in North Tonawanda.

Sophomores Walter Garcia (Oaxaca, Mexico) and Alex Abji (Vancouver, B.C.), and junior Justin McConkey (Newmarket, Ont.) all won their third-straight singles matches.

Garcia improved to 9-5 overall and 4-0 in dual matches with a 6-4, 6-1 win over Cprime Realista at No. 1 singles. Abji improved to 2-0 at No. 2 singles with a 6-1, 6-2 victory over Conrad Nowogrodzki. McConkey defeated Jake Baranowski, 6-1, 6-1 at No. 4 singles to improve to 7-4 overall and 3-0 in dual matches.

Freshmen Dawson Peare (Gormely, Ont.) and Steve Kopf (Grand Island, N.Y) and senior Dave Rueter (Langhorne, Pa.) also won at No. 3, No. 5 and No. 6 singles, respectively.

In doubles, Garcia and Abji ran their records to 3-0 overall and in dual matches with an 8-3 win over Realista and Nowogrodzki at No. 1 doubles. McConkey and Rueter defeated John McCarthy and Jon Pimentel, 8-1, at No. 3 doubles.

Niagara returns to action Saturday when it travels to Hamilton, N.Y., to take on Colgate.