Schedule

BROOKLYN, N.Y. (April 24, 2018) – The Rutgers University-Newark men's tennis team suffered a close defeat in its final tune-up of the regular season at Brooklyn College, 5-4.

The Scarlet Raiders were a little shorthanded as they move to 5-8 for the year while the Bulldogs even their record at 5-5.

Rutgers-Newark is headed to its second consecutive Greater Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) semifinal match and fourth in the last five years, all coming against rival Ramapo. The Raiders will take on the Roadrunners this Saturday in Mahwah, N.J. at noon.

This afternoon, Newark was forced to forfeit its third doubles match but rebounded with strong showings at the other two spots. At No. 2 doubles, the pairing of senior Kevin Martin and sophomore Alan Yu cruised to an 8-1 victory to even the match score at 1-1.

Still, senior Brandon Davis and rookie Veer Kachhiapatel dropped a close contest at first doubles, 8-6, so the visitors trailed 2-1 headed into singles play.

In singles action, Kachhiapatel and Yu both took care of business in straight sets. Kachhiapatel dropped just two games en route to a 6-1, 6-1 win at No. 2 singles. Yu handled his opponent in the third position 6-4, 6-4.

Junior Deonte Gamboa stepped up and earned R-N's grittiest point of the day, rallying to take his match at No. 5 6-7, 6-2, 6-4.

Unfortunately, two tough three-set matches at No. 1 and No. 3 saw Brooklyn edge the Raiders 5-4.

Head Coach Andres Bustani said, "Despite having to forfeit two matches, we were able to fight through every match we played. We had some good matches today and it was a great practice competition before the GNAC semifinals."

At first singles, Davis lost the first set 2-6, evened the match with a 6-4 second stanza win, but lost the third set 7-5.

In the third position, Martin won the opening frame 6-4 but suffered back-to-back heartbreaking losses in a tiebreak as he fell 4-6, 7-6, 7-6.

Bustani added, "I'm really pleased with the way everyone performed during tough circumstances and we came very close to winning this one. Now it's time to focus on Saturday."