Lu Scores Upset Win at No. 1 Singles

NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Rejuvenated after three weeks of rest, the Yale men's tennis team entered Sunday's encounter against Old Dominion with purpose.  Having narrowly edged Old Dominion in a nail-biting clash one year ago, the Bulldogs knew that a tough challenge was ahead of them if they were off their games.  Yale (4-2, 0-0 Ivy) came out strong on its home courts to claim the doubles point, and then never looked back to run away with the 6-1 victory.

In last year's match between the two squads, Old Dominion was able to capture the doubles point, which required the Elis to launch a comeback in singles.  This season, Yale managed to reverse last year's result by claiming two fairly straightforward wins in doubles.  The veteran senior duo of Patrick Chase and captain Kyle Dawson scored an 8-4 victory against Zvonimir Podvinski and Dante Terenzio at No. 2 doubles.  At No. 3 doubles, junior Daniel Faierman and freshman Alex Hagermoser complemented that win with an 8-3 victory of their own.  Heading into singles play, the stage was set for the Bulldogs to seal the victory.

At No.'s 2, 3 and 5 singles, respectively, sophomore Martin Svenning, Dawson and freshman Photos Photiades rolled to comfortable wins, securing the match in favor of the Elis.  In other matches, Faierman posted a solid win over Podvinski, and freshman Tyler Lu pulled off an upset against the No. 56 player in the country, Carlos Lopez-Villa.  Lu played the bigger points better to record a tight 7-6, 7-6 victory.

Sunday's triumph marked Yale's third-consecutive win at home.  The Bulldogs will aim to keep this streak alive when they return to their home courts in two weeks' time for a tripleheader weekend against Fairleigh Dickinson, Marist and Stony Brook.   

Report by Robert Batista '15, Yale Sports Publicity