MIDDLEBURY, Conn. – For the first time in program history, Post University Men's Tennis will host a Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference Tournament match on Saturday afternoon. After junior Ivan Kolchanov's victory in the #6 Singles against Chestnut Hill College at the Edgewood Bath and Tennis Club in Middlebury, Connecticut on Tuesday, the Eagles took down the Griffins, 4-3, securing the two seed and a home match in the CACC Tournament.

Entering the day, Post led Chestnut Hill by one game in the win column, but the two teams split their two matches earlier in the season leading to the rubber match today. While the Griffins still had one more match after today left, a loss would have tied them with the Eagles at 4-5 had they won the match tomorrow against Dominican (N.Y.) with the tiebreaker in hand should they have beaten Post today.  

THE BASICS

Post University 4, Chestnut Hill College 3

Post University (5-11, 5-4 CACC)

Chestnut Hill College (8-8-1, 3-5 CACC)
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

In the Doubles, it was all Chestnut Hill who looked to set the tone for the day after taking two of the three matches. Graduate student Gustavo Kerber and junior Dante Despontin dropped just their second match as a duo this year, 6-3, against senior Noah Cutting and sophomore Antonio Franquis in the #1 Doubles. The Griffins took the team point after sophomore Tiago Lima and senior Joao Sousa won the #3 Doubles, knocking off sophomore Tobias Strauss and Kolchanov, 6-2.

The lone win of the Doubles for Post came in the #2 Doubles when senior Anton Andersson and junior Josh Cronje got a come-from-behind 7-5 win over junior Pedro Vicente and sophomore Siddharth Malik.

Needing four Singles victories to get the team win and clinch the two seed, Post would flip the script on some early deficits to lock up their first-ever CACC Tournament match this weekend at home. While Kerber trailed Cutting in the #1 Singles after a 6-4 loss in set one, he would come back for a pair of 7-5 and 6-3 set wins to take that match while Despontin took a similar route in the #3 Singles against Lima. After winning set one, 6-2, over Lima, Despontin dropped set two, 6-3, but got a big 7-6 win with a 7-3 tiebreaker point win.

The #2 and #4 Singles were in favor of the Griffins though as Franquis swept Andersson, 7-5 and 6-1, in the #2 match while Sousa in the #4 match got a pair of 6-4 set wins which brought Chestnut Hill within a win of getting the team victory and second seed for themselves.

But the Eagles would get the job done in the #5 and #6 Singles as Cronje won, 6-4 and 6-2, against junior Menno Raemaekers and Kolchanov's two 6-4 set wins over Vicente to cap off the evening helped Post get the come-from-behind team win, 4-3, earning themselves the two seed for the tournament.

BY THE NUMBERS

• Dante Despontin and Gustavo Kerber's suffered only their second loss of the season as a duo, dropping to 9-2 and having lost two of their last four Doubles matches  
• Gustavo Kerber continues his hot streak after winning his fourth straight Singles match of the season on Sunday, moving to 7-9 overall 
• After losing three straight matches, Ivan Kolchanov won his second straight match which ended up being the difference maker in Post University getting the win today
• For the first time in program history, Post University has beaten Chestnut Hill College twice in the same season – Coming into the year, the Eagles had only won one match in 25 tries against the Griffins

WHO'S NEXT

Post University will host its first-ever CACC Tournament match this Saturday at the Edgewood Bath and Tennis Club in Middlebury, Connecticut against three-seeded Chestnut Hill College. At the moment, the match is scheduled to get underway at 2:00 PM per the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference Championship website.