Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 Lakeland/Tampa, Florida – The SUNY Oneonta men's tennis team headed to Florida with one goal and that was to sweep the doubleheader versus University of Northwestern and Roger Williams and it was mission accomplished.
 
This past Wednesday the day began with a 5:30 AM wake up call and did not end until almost midnight.  Opening up in Lakeland, Florida against the University of Northwestern Eagles of St. Paul, MN, the Red Dragons jumped out to a 2-1 lead after doubles when the first doubles team of freshman Nick Fox and junior Michael Nelson (Manhasset/Manhasset) went down 4-7 but broke back twice and forced a tiebreaker and won the match 7-2 in the decider with great service returns by Fox and big serving by Nelson.  The second doubles team of freshmen Andrew Emanuel (Rye/Rye) and Joseph D'Orazio (Smithtown/Smithtown) were never threatened and cruised to an 8-3 win securing the 2-1 lead going into singles play.
 
In singles play, the Red Dragons were never in jeopardy and won all six courts. Sophomore Zach Lasky (Colonie/Colonie) was back to mid season form and shutout his opponent 6-0, 6-0 highlighting the singles stanza sweep.
 
A break for lunch and the one hour ride to Tampa, Florida for the men who wanted to avenge a loss to the Roger Williams Hawks a year ago while traveling to Florida.  The tired but motivated Red Dragons again jumped out to the 2-1 lead after the doubles portion of the match. Fox and Nelson repeated their morning performance and got their second win of the day as Fox dominated the net and together they won handily 8-2.  Sophomore Timmy Distler (Amityville/St. John the Baptist) and senior Joseph Morris (Bainbridge/Sidney Senior High School) secured the 2-1 advantage going into the singles portion of play doubling up the Hawks with dominate serves by Morris and crisp volleys by Distler.

The singles play got underway at around 8 PM and did not finish until almost midnight.  At first singles, Nelson won a tight first set and ran into an episode of cramping and dropped the second set at love.  Nelson then dug down just a little deeper and saved two match points in the super tie-breaker and won 13-11 to secure his second win of the day.  Sophomore Cole Laffitte (East Setauket/Ward Melville) played the longest match of the evening when he dropped the first set in a tiebreaker and fought back to win the second set 7-5.  The super tie-breaker was back and forth, but Laffitte had to settle for the loss with 8-10 defeat in the decider.  Although Laffitte lost the match the competition was compelling and both combatants left their hearts out there with both teams rooting hard for their teammates.

Lasky routined his opponent only dropping two games in the match and on the whole day.  D'Orazio and Emanuel sailed to victories never really in danger en route to wins at second and third singles respectfully.
 
The Red Dragon's head back to New York and take on St. John Fisher in Rochester on March 18th beginning at 4 PM looking for their third win in a row.