Box Score Farmingdale, NY - SUNY Oneonta men's tennis left the friendly confines of frigid Oneonta early Saturday morning for the long drive to Long Island to take on fellow SUNY rival the Farmingdale Rams.  Oneonta took little time dismantling the Rams' lineup and cruised to an 8-1 victory on a very windy campus.  The win for the Red Dragons got them back to .500 for the spring season.

Opening with doubles competition the Red Dragon number one team of seniors Mackenzie Park (Elmira/Elmira Free Academy) and Benjamin Leighton (Shokan/Onteora) came back from 4-7 down as they broke serve twice and forced the match to a tie breaker.  In dramatic fashion the Red Dragon duo overtook their opponents 7-3 to take the match 9-8.

Sophomore Matteo Befi (Hastings on Hudson/Hastings) and junior Matthew Richards (Bayport/Bayport Bluepoint) never were threatened and cruised to an 8-4 triumph at No. 2 doubles.  Then the No. 3 team of junior Joseph Morris (Bainbridge/Sidney Senior High School) and freshman Cole Laffitte (East Setauket/Ward Melville) came back from one break down and clinched victory as Laffitte held serve to insure SUNY Oneonta had a 3-0 lead going into singles play.

The 3-0 lead was too much for the Rams to overcome and they never threatened as the Red Dragons came up with victories in the 2-6 positions.  The highlight was Befi who dropped the first set to his opponent and then settled down, tweaking his strategy, and took the next two set 6-3, 6-4 culminating in a very successful afternoon for the Red Dragons.

The Red Dragon men play their first home match of the spring this week when they host the University of Scranton on Wednesday, April 8^th at 4pm.  The very next day they host Union College also at 4 pm.
 
Doubles competition
1. Benjamin Leighton (Shokan/Onteora)/Mackenzie Park (Elmira/Elmira Free Academy) (O) def. Hunter, Chris/Palacios, Kevin (F) 9-8
2. Matteo Befi (Hastings on Hudson/Hastings)/Matthew Richards (Bayport/Bayport Bluepoint) (O) def. Karuppiah, Karuppiah/Mahalingam, Aravind (F) 8-4
3. Cole Laffitte (East Setauket/Ward Melville)/Joseph Morris (Bainbridge/Sidney Senior High School) (O) def. Beaubrun, Marvin/Drago, Joseph (F) 8-6
 
Singles competition
1. Hunter, Chris (F) def. Benjamin Leighton (Shokan/Onteora) (O) 6-4, 6-2
2. Mackenzie Park (Elmira/Elmira Free Academy) (O) def. Palacios, Kevin (F) 6-4, 6-1
3. Matteo Befi (Hastings on Hudson/Hastings) (O) def. Baruch, Dan (F) 1-6, 6-3, 6-4
4. Cole Laffitte (East Setauket/Ward Melville) (O) def. Beaubrun, Marvin (F) 6-2, 6-1
5. Matthew Richards (Bayport/Bayport Bluepoint) (O) def. Mahalingam, Aravind (F) 6-2, 6-3
6. Zach Lasky (Colonie/Colonie) (O) def. Karuppiah, Karuppiah (F) 6-2, 6-2