HAMDEN — In what will hopefully serve as a preview for next season, Quinnipiac men’s tennis took down Merrimack College 7-0 on Friday afternoon.
Merrimack, currently a member of the Northeast Conference, is set to join the MAAC in the 2024-25 season.
Despite the clear sweep, the Bobcats did not have it easy against the Warriors. That’s the beauty of tennis, sometimes the result does not reflect the match.
“It’s great to win on our home courts,” head coach Bryan Adinolfi said. “I think they had an injury on their No. 1 singles position, which made us a little stronger but they still made us work for it.”
The Bobcats returned to their full doubles line-up Friday with freshman Carlos Braun Simo back in action. The freshman duo of Simo and Finn Burridge — or the “dynamic duo” as women’s tennis senior Dominique Yeo dubbed them from the stands — won their set 6-4.
The duo of senior Shaurya Sood and graduate student Daniel Velek had a bit of a challenge in the form of Merrimack’s senior Aryaan Bhatia and freshman Jacob Dubas. Still, they cemented their No. 1 spot, taking the set 6-3.
Although the previous two wins already guaranteed the Bobcats the doubles point, just to round it out, seniors Ayato Arakaki and Donovan Brown won their game 5-3 (DNF).
“We have been struggling with doubles, so it feels good to get that point,” Adinolfi said.
Brown sat out the singles after and was replaced by sophomore Csanad Nyaradi at the No. 6 spot.
“Today our five was (Burridge), six was (Nyaradi), (Brown) was our seven and our eight is (sophomore Gaurav Mootha,)” Adinolfi said. “The four of them could all be in the top six. We’re just trying to find the right combo going into the MAAC season. What we had out there today, is what I think our strongest line-up is.”
Velek had a tougher start to the first set, but after taking it 6-2 he easily won his game as No. 1 seed in two same sets.
Additionally, Simo is finally healthy after recovering from a shoulder injury that sidelined him for a few games. He won his match quickly, in straight sets 6-2 6-0.
Sood and Nyaradi won their games in straight sets as well.
Burridge struggled the most out of the Bobcats, falling in the first set to Merrimack’s freshman Sadhista Linga 3-6. After bouncing back in the second set, he took the super tie-break without much problems, 10-7.
Arakaki played the longest match today. His first set (7-6) lasted as long as Simo’s entire match. After a hard won tie-break in the first set (10-6), the captain won his match (6-2 in the second set) to give Quinnipiac the seventh point for the sweep.
Men’s lacrosse joined the audience today, cheering loudly from the stands and often targeting remarks such as “wambulance” and “womp, womp” towards the Warriors.
“We had some support from the other students, so I think all the guys were kinda juiced up, you know?” Adinolfi said.
It’s the fourth game in a row that the Bobcats won after stumbling at the beginning of their season.
Quinnipiac is back on the road on Sunday, when it travels to Ithaca, New York, to face Cornell at the Reis Tennis Center. Despite it spotting six outdoor courts, the match will happen indoors.
“We play outdoors, then we play indoors, now we play outdoors and now we have to go back indoors again,” Adinolfi said. “Sometimes that is tough to adjust (to), but you know, we’re getting through it.”
The Bobcats are back in action on their home turf March 24 when they take on Marist.
