By Seva Galant
Staff Writer
The men’s tennis team competed in the Northeast Regional Tournament on Friday, Sept. 27.
A total of four singles and doubles teams made it into the second round, while two singles and a doubles team made it to the second day of the competition.
Sophomore Matthew Michibata won in two sets, 6-2 and 6-4, against Ioannis Binopolous of Union College, and in another two sets against Jeremy Auh of Vassar College, both 6-3.
Sophomore Justin Wain won in two sets as well against Patrick Matthews of Rochester Institute of Technology, with sets of 6-2 and 6-0. He also won 6-0 in both sets against Nathan Tauber of The University of Scranton.
Seniors Thomas Wright and Gokul Murugesan faced Eric Stein and Joe Reiner of Hamilton College in a doubles match, beating them 8-2.
Their second-round match was against Jack McClaren and Jason Keye of Skidmore College, which they won 8-5.
Saturday, Sept. 28 marked the second day of regionals, where Michibata once again quickly disposed of his freshman opponent,
Michibata then went head-to-head against Jack McLaren of Skidmore to reach the semifinal on day three with sets of 6-2 and 6-3.
Wain played against JT Wynne of Skidmore in a three-set thriller for the semifinal spot.
Taking the first set, Wain managed to hold Wynne off with a 6-4 set. Wynne came back to win 6-2.
In the third set, Wynne forced his way past Wain to win 7-5.
Wright and Murugesan faced the defending regional champions, Alan Dubrovsky
On Sunday, Sept. 29, Michibata went three rounds in singles play to win and advance to the finals at the ITA Cup in Rome, Georgia. He will be the first Lion to do so since 2007.
Michibata returns to the court on Oct. 17 for the three-day ITA Cup tournament.
