Results

WILKES-BARRE – Jeremy Nolt (Bloomsburg/Central Columbia) picked up two wins, including the deciding 7-5, 7-6 (5) No. 1 singles victory over Michael Capozzi, as Wilkes University blew past rival Manhattanville College 8-1 in a battle for the top spot in the Freedom Conference men's tennis standings on Thursday afternoon at the Ralston Athletic Complex.

Before the loss to Nolt, Capozzi, a junior, had never lost a conference singles match.

The Colonels (7-3, 3-0) took control from the start, sweeping doubles to take a 3-0 lead.

Nolt and Dakkota Deem (Montgomery, PA/Montgomery) got an easy 8-1 win over Dean Tahir and Andrew Rivera at No. 2 while Clarke Freeman (York, PA/Central York) and Alex Makos (Mansfield, PA/Mansfield) shut down Karim Mahmoud and Chris Lin 8-3 at the third spot.

Evan Katz (Ellicott City, MD/Centennial), the conference's reining player of the week, and Wes McCollum (Harrisburg/Central Dauphin) went to the wire with Capozzi and Gabriel Pinto at No. 1, getting a hard fought 8-6 victory.

The competiveness of that matchup seemed to carry over to singles action, where the Colonels picked up tough wins in five of the six matches.

Katz took a seemingly easy 6-3, 6-2 win over Tahir at No. 2 while McCollum rallied for a 6-1, 5-7, 11-9 victory over Mahmoud at No. 3.

Deem picked up a 7-6, 6-2 win at the fifth spot over Rivera and Makos got the Colonels fifth win, beating Lin 7-5, 5-7, 10-7.

Wilkes and the Valiants entered today tied atop the conference standings with identical 2-0 marks.

The Colonels will now look for some more breathing room when they host Eastern University (8-4, 2-1) on Friday. Start time is set for 3:00 p.m. from the Ralston Athletic Complex.