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It took nearly four hours, but the Wilkes University men's tennis team upset No. 1 seed Manhattanville in the finals of the Freedom Conference Championship, winning 5-4 to earn a berth into the NCAA Tournament.
The match came down to the wire as the No. 4 and No. 5 singles were the only matches remaining to decide the match with Wilkes clinging to a 4-3 lead.
Chris Cozzillio (Harrisburg, Pa./Trinity), playing at the No. 5 spot held a 6-4, 6-7 (7-5), 5-3 lead over Hugo Robinson before tournament MVP
Kyle Ungvarsky (Horseheads, N.Y./Horseheads) kept his unbeaten streak in tact with a 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 win over Lance Dorfi at the No. 4 spot. Ungvarsky's win clinched the match giving Wilkes its second-straight team title.
Wilkes started off with a bang for the Colonels as they won two of three doubles matches to take an early 2-1 lead. Ironically, the Valiants took an easy 8-1 win over the Colonels on their home court winning all three doubles matches and all but one singles match.
Jeremy Nolt (Bloomsburg, Pa./Central Columbia) and
Wes McCollum (Harrisburg, Pa./Central Dauphin) gave Wilkes a 1-0 lead after they took down Robinson and Dean Tahir 8-1 at the No. 3 spot. The Valiants tied the match at one when Julian Oribe and Dorfi took an 8-4 win over
Evan Katz (Ellicott City, Md./Centennial) and
Jon Rohrbach (Muncy, Pa./Muncy). At the No. 1 spot, Ungvarsky and Cozzillio gave the Colonels a boost with a 9-7 win over Imran Choudhury and Michael Copozzi.
In singles play, Capozzi tied the match for Manhattanville with his 6-0, 6-0 win over McCollum at the No. 3 spot before Choudhury gave the Valiants their first lead with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Katz at the No. 2 spot.
Jeremy Nolt (Bloomsburg, Pa./Central Columbia), playing at the No. 1 position tied the match at three after he defeated Oribe 6-2, 6-2 before Rohrbach gave Wilkes the lead for good after his 6-3, 6-3 straight-set win over Tahir at the No. 6 spot.
Ungvarsky, who improved to 13-0 this season, won the first set 6-3 over Dorfi, but a quick 6-1 win by Dorfi in the second set extended the match to three sets before Ungvarsky finally took a 6-3 win to clinch the championship.
At the No. 5 spot, Cozzillio and Robinson went back and fourth with Cozzillio taking the first match 6-4 before Robinson came back to win the second in a tie break 7-6 (7-5). Cozzillio led 5-3 in the third before they were pulled from the court after Ungvarsky's win.
The Colonels will find out who and where they play in a conference call with the NCAA next week.
