GUILFORD, Conn. – The Quinnipiac men’s tennis team fell to the rowdy Rider Broncs 5-2 Sunday. This marks the first conference loss for the Bobcats on the season as they move to 2-1. 

Freshman Csanad Nyaradi and graduate student Andreas Whalen-Merediz took an early 6-2 match win. The mix of Whalen-Merediz’ slow-paced playstyle and Nyaradi’s powerful attacks gave their opponents problems they couldn’t fix. 

Juniors Ayato Arakaki and Donavan Brown were locked in a tight matchup. Arakaki displayed a ball-placement masterclass, hitting the ball out of the reach of his opponents for a point. Despite the display, the duo couldn’t shut the door and fell 6-4, leaving the fate of the doubles point in the hands of junior Shaurya Sood and senior Kemal Karagozoglu. 

The pair continued the same playstyle as Karagozoglu would be the big man at the front of the net while Sood manned the backline. It was a back and forth battle with each team trading game wins. The Bobcats were in position to win, just needing one more point to take the doubles point. 

Sood returned his opponent’s serve who quickly hit it right back at the front of the net. Karagozoglu, who was named captain in March, reacted to the shot and hit it just over the head of the Rider defender to win the match.

@QU_MTEN winning the doubles point in yesterdays matchup vs. Rider pic.twitter.com/GIaUseBV1x

— Ryan Raggio (@RyanRaggio17) April 3, 2023

Being named captain meant a lot to the Port St. Lucie, Florida native as he quickly embraced the role. 

“I wanted to help the team out and be there for them and be a leader,” Karagozoglu said. “I love the guys and I feel like I’m a big brother to them.” 

The singles matchups are where it all went wrong for Quinnipiac. The support of the early 1-0 from the doubles point wasn’t enough to propel the Bobcats to a match victory as they dropped five of six singles matches. 

Sood and Whalen-Merediz started off their matches strong, taking the first set, but couldn’t shut the door as too many mistakes proved costly. Rider took advantage of the free points after the Bobcats would hit it over the backline. 

Rider also gave the Bobcats difficulty when trying to earn points as they returned every hit. 

“They were very good at playing defense,” head coach Bryan Adinolfi said. “Keeping the ball deep and playing very far behind the baseline and making everything. We were missing, in general, controlling the point and being more offensive.”

Karagozoglu had a rough day in singles, but remained the vocal leader for the team despite being down. 

“For them,” Karagozoglu said. “Everything I do on the court is for them. Having that energy means a lot not just for me, but for them too. I just think about them and how it might affect their game.” 

Nyaradi came away with the lone singles win for Quinnipiac after splitting the first two sets (7-5 and 5-7) and went into a 10-point tiebreaker. The matchup was even-keeled, but Nyaradi gutted it out and took the final set 11-9. 

The Bobcats look to bounce back as they face the Siena Saints in Loudonville, New York, Saturday April 8. 

“I’d love to have another crack at them,” Adinolfi said. “I hope my players feel the same. I hope that they’re disappointed with the loss and that they want to play them again if we can make it to the tournament.”