Fire men's tennis took off to Orlando for their first match of a six game week. They started strong defeating Division I opponent Loyola University of Maryland, 5-1.
The contest started exactly the way the Fire wanted it to with each of the doubles pairs winning their games to give the Fire an early 1-0 lead.
Bruno Pessoa and
Diego Menendez defeated Oliver Davey and Nick Haggar 7-5, Victor Pilla and
Alejandro Orihuela took care of business in their match against Matt Cardano and Cristian Pemeuller winning 6-4. The third line of doubles was the dominant line for the Fire as
Mark Griffin and Piero Menendez won over George Cavo and Bennett LaLonde 6-3.
In singles, the Fire's Menendez dominated Davey 6-0, 6-1 at Line 2, and Orihuela did his duty winning 6-1, 6-4 over Cavo at Line 4. Gustavio Rubio stepped into line six defeating George Bulger 7-6, 6-1, and Piero Menendez came back to take the match against Haggar 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 at Line 3.
Two matches unfinished, the fifth line contest between Griffin and Pemueller, it was closely contested when it was called. The players were tied, 3-6, 7-5, 2-2. Pessoa in the first line was unable to finish the match and retired, giving Cardano the win after the match was called with the score being 7-5, 2-1, this was Loyola University Maryland's only point of the game.
The Fire return to action tomorrow afternoon, taking on Adrian College at 12 p.m. and another Division I opponent, Saint Joseph's University at 5:30 p.m.
