Stowe, VT - The University of Maine at Fort Kent men's tennis team took two of three doubles matches, then split six singles matches to come away with a 5-4 win over Lyndon State College on Friday evening.  The match was played indoors at the Topnotch Resort in Stowe, VT.  The Hornets fall to 0-2 with the loss.  The match was the season opener for UMFK.

The Hornets's first doubles team of Jake LaCerda (Gray, ME) and Neal Mulligan (Marshfield, VT) got the hosts off to a strong start, posting an 8-2 win over the Bengals' Stefan Petricevic and Lewis Cockburn.  UMFK was able to pull even, however, as Faizi Salim and Cesar Arroyo downed Koery Steele (Jupiter, FL) and Gerald Fleming (Tampa, FL), 8-4 at second doubles.  The Bengals' third doubles team of Tolu Oyeniyi and Kalusha Kotes edged Lyndon's Jeremy Polonia (Lynn, MA) and Ben Seward (Bennington, VT), 8-6, giving the guests a 2-1 lead in the match heading into singles play.

LaCerda evened up the match, making quick work of Petricevic, 6-0, 6-1 at first singles.  However Arroyo defeated Fleming, 6-2, 6-3, and Oyeniyi topped Steele, 6-2, 7-5, at fourth and fifth singles respectively, making the match score 4-2 in favor of UMFK.  That meant that the Hornets would have to sweep the remaining three singles matches to pull out a victory.

Mulligan battled back from one set down to pick up a hard fought 3-6, 6-1, 7-5 win over Salim at second singles.  UMFK then clinched the match with Cockburn's 6-0, 6-3 win over Seward at third singles.  Lyndon's Mukhtar Abdullahi (Mogadishu, Somalia) won a three-set match over Ryan Merkel, 4-6, 6-2, 1-0 (10-8) at sixth singles to close out play.

The Hornets return to the courts on Tuesday, April 3rd, when they will travel to Johnson State College for a 3:30 pm non-conference match.