Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 Canton, NY & Geneva, NY – The SUNY Oneonta Red Dragons men's tennis team hit a snag this weekend and suffered a pair of losses to two very solid teams from the Liberty League.  The Liberty League will normally have several regionally ranked teams in the top 20, so the Red Dragons certainly had its work cut out for them.  In their annual trek to play both St. Lawrence and regionally ranked Hobart College (nationally ranked #35) in the country the Red Dragons played great tennis but fell short against both squads.

On Saturday, against St. Lawrence, the Red Dragons came close to pulling an upset win.  They came out of the doubles competition within striking distance as the number two pair of senior Zach Lasky (Colonie/Colonie) and sophomore Marco Ammirati (Huntington/Huntington) kept things close and won decisively 8-3.  Down only 2-1 going into the singles stanza number one singles player junior Joseph D'Orazio (Smithtown/Smithtown) won the first set 6-3 and was up a break in the second set fighting through a leg injury but had to retire in the third set giving the first singles win to St. Lawrence.  Ammirati and senior Tim Distler brought impressive victories to the Red Dragons but it was not enough and Oneonta had to settle for the 6-3 loss.

Going into Sunday's match after the drive from St. Lawrence the evening prior the Red Dragon men took on the always powerful and nationally ranked Hobart College Statesmen.  Oneonta again played great tennis but were overmatched by Hobart. Some highlights for the Red Dragons was at number three doubles where senior Cole Laffitte (East Setauket/Ward Melville) and Distler were on serve at 6-6 within striking distance to gain an upset win but Distler was broken and the Statesmen routinely closed at that dual and allowed Hobart to sweep the doubles.

Down 3-0 going into the singles, the Red Dragons certainly kept the match interesting when Lasky took down the fourth singles player in straight sets.  It was the second win on the weekend for Lasky who continues to play a winning, grinding style of play.  Laffitte also split sets with his number five foe and was at 8-8 in the super-tiebreaker and nearly pulled off another upset for the Red Dragons.  Distler at number six also kept things interesting but settled for a 6-2, 6-3 defeat.  Senior Nicholas Fox (Commack/Commack) played a nationally ranked player at the number two position and, although the score did not represent the quality of play of Fox, he eventually was overwhelmed by his opponent.

An interesting note for the Red Dragons was the play of rookie Riley Smith (Westhampton Beach/Westhampton Beach) who was impressive in the number one position but the experience from the Hobart player held to form.  Ammirati also had a tough match and lost the first set by only one-break and then unfortunately again the Statesmen opponent had too much in his arsenal and sent Ammirati home on the losing side.

The Red Dragons will have a few days off, before resuming competition against Yeshiva University on Tuesday, February 27^th to play the four-time defending conference champions and a perennial NCAA tournament team from the Skyline Conference in Edgewater, NJ beginning at 8 PM.