Box Score

Purchase, NY (Mar. 8, 2013) – Friday's winter storm wrecked havoc on Purchase's weekend events, cancelling several home and road contests, but the improved weather later Saturday and early Sunday, paved the way for one home matchup on the weekend, as Panther tennis was able to get in their tilt with non-conference rival Bard College, a former longtime Skyline Conference opponent.

Bouncing back from a narrow non-conference defeat to Baruch in their last time out, the Panthers (2-1) coasted to a 8-1 victory over the Raptors, getting back on track in a match that was nearly canceled due to weather. Purchase shifted the match from the lower courts, which are still under snow, ice and water, to the upper courts on campus, and also, in an effort to get the match in, shifted the start time from 1 to 2 p.m., taking into consideration daylight savings and Bard's lengthy trip from Annandale-on-Hudson. The Raptors and the Panthers have a longstanding rivalry dating back to the days when the two battled for supremacy in the league.

With weather cooperating Sunday, the rivalry continued on the upper courts and the Panthers started strong, fueled off the 5-4 defeat against Baruch last week. Purchase swept the doubles action en route to dropping Bard to 1-4 on the season. 

The top tandem of Jeremyah Schur (SO/Forest Hills, NY) and Brenden Keeling (SR/Ontario, Canada) teamed for an impressive 8-2 margin against Bard's No. 1 pairing of Alexandre Khondji and Philip Poznansky. Schur and Keeling wasted little time, dominating the top-of-the-order doubles matchup. The No. 2 matchup wasn't as easy for Chris Matchneer (SR/Larchmont, NY) and Dylan DeBiase (JR/High Falls, NY), but the two pulled it together and earned a hard-fought 8-6 win against Ted Laport and Isaac Lertola.

The Panthers would then take a 3-0 lead, sweeping the doubles in an 8-3 win thanks to Pocholo Chavez (JR/Stony Point, NY) and Cody Zweier (SO/West Hempstead, NY). The two topped Bard's Erik Wallulis and Dashiell Flach.

In singles, the Panthers kept rolling, winning 1-5 and dropping the sixth singles spot.

The highlight of the afternoon belonged to top singles player Schur, who outlasted Khondji 6-3, 7-5 in a back-and-forth, lengthy matchup, which capped the resounding win. Schur struggled early, but recovered and finished strong, especially in the second set, against a very good No. 1 player. Keeling, who along with Schur forms one of the top, if not the top doubles pair and top-of-the-order singles combo, was impressive at second singles, earning a 6-4, 6-2 win.

DeBiase continued his impressive spring showing with another win. This time, DeBiase topped Laport 6-1, 6-1. Chavez took fourth singles 6-2, 6-3 and Matchneer outlasted his opponent in a super tiebreaker (3-6, 6-3, 10-2), rallying for a strong finish of his own.

Men's tennis will now travel to WestConn on Tuesday before returning home on Mar. 14 to host Brooklyn College.