BETHLEHEM, Pa. --- Moravian College continues its look back at the 2015-16 athletic campaign with the No. 8 highlight in the Top 10 Exciting Games – the men's tennis squad's 5-4 win at rival Muhlenberg College.
The Greyhounds, who completed the season with a 13-7 record and in the ECAC Division III Outdoor Championship match for the second straight spring, topped the Mules on Thursday, April 21, 2016 in what ended up being the final road match of the regular season for the Hounds.
First year Director of Tennis Alan Heverly picked up his first career win over Muhlenberg as a coach after splitting with the Mules as a player for the Greyhounds in 1995 and 1996.
"Muhlenberg always has a good team, and there record is seldom representative of the team's ability because they play in a very tough conference," noted Heverly. "A win over Muhlenberg is a good win regardless of the fact that we are crosstown rivals, but that fact makes it even more pleasurable."
Moravian jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the match by sweeping the doubles action. Seniors Matt Tuorto and John Wylie, who set the single season doubles record with 18 wins in 2015-16 and the career mark with 56 career victories as a duo, were first to finish with an 8-2 win at first doubles. The freshmen tandem of Isaac Schefer and Peter Demyan were done next with an 8-4 victory at third doubles while senior C.J. Widdifield and junior Giovanni Lombardi completed the sweep with an 8-4 triumph at second doubles.
"The team was guardedly optimistic after the doubles," stated Heverly. "Some players were on a high about it, but everyone knew we still had work cut out for us to win the match."
Demyan captured his sixth singles match in shutout of 6-0, 6-0 to give the Greyhounds a 4-0 lead and needing just one point from the final five contests for the win.
"I was really hoping Gio would get an important win for his own sake and I knew it was possible," stated Heverly. "With John I have always had confidence in his ability. There was only one match I thought he under performed all year, so I was pretty confident he would play well - the question was would it be enough because his opponent was a very capable player and the tight first set proved me correct."
However, the Mules won the next three matches to finish to cut the Hounds' advantage to 4-3. Wylie would finally clinch the match for Moravian with a 6-4, 6-1 victory at second singles.
"Generally John is not a fast starter because tactically he plays similar to myself when I played," commented Heverly. "He doesn't give away much and is working hard mentally to figure out how to beat a particular opponent. Prior to the Muhlenberg match there were only a few matches when he had difficulty achieving this by himself, and in those matches he proved very coachable and followed advice. My first choice in any tight situation would be to have John or Matt playing for the clincher. I had tremendous confidence in him, but I must say I wasn't sure it was over until it was over."
It was the second straight season that Moravian has defeated Muhlenberg after a 6-3 win in 2015.
You can read the original game story at http://moraviansports.com/sports/mten/2015-16/releases/20160421trg99g.
Game number seven of the countdown will be released on Wednesday, July 6.