Men's Tennis wins first Big Sky Conference match of the season

GREELEY -- The Northern Colorado men's tennis team was victorious Sunday against Big Sky Conference-rival Portland State. The Bears downed the Vikings 5-2 and earned their first Big Sky Conference win of the season.

The day started with three close doubles matches, and the Bears came away with wins at the Nos. 1 and 2 positions to claim the doubles point.

Brandon Lupo and Ben Gendron defeated Mitch Somach and Alec Marx, 8-6, while Ryan Lane and Jordan Loughnan defeated Abhinav Mishra and Roman Margoulis, 8-6.

Travis Day and Jeff Carlson lost 9-8 (7-3) in a close tiebreaker to Zach Lubek and Nick Fracchia.

"The tone was set in doubles," Northern Colorado coach Tim Bearman said. "It was great tennis from both schools, but we ended up on the right side of those matches."

The momentum continued into the singles matches and started with Lupo at the No. 1 spot, as he defeated Margoulis in a decisive 6-0, 6-0 victory.

The No. 3 position saw Carlson defeat Somach 6-2, 6-4, and at No. 4 Gendron defeated Marx after going to a tiebreak in the first set 7-6 (7-4), 6-3.

"This was a great team win," Bearman said. "Everyone participated today and had a hand in the victory."

The final win for the Bears was at No. 5 singles, from sophomore Michael Moya, who beat Lubek 6-2, 6-2.

The closest match of the day came from Lane, who split sets with Mishra but fell in the ten-point tiebreaker for the third set 6-7 (7-9), 7-6 (7-4), 7-10.

"I'm excited for the guys on the team -- they deserve this today," Bearman said. "If we keep approaching practice the right way, with focus and intensity, we will continue to improve and win matches."

The Bears return to action on March 3 when they travel to Idaho State to take on the Bengals.