Men's Tennis Falls to West Conn, 5-1, in Little East Tournament

NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- After two days of rain, the Western Connecticut State University men's tennis team advanced to the Little East Conference Tournament Semifinals following a 5-1 victory over Bridgewater State University at Yale Indoor Tennis Facility on Thursday afternoon.

After the doubles competition, Western held a 2-1 advantage and it was a race to the mandatory five-game requirement.

Seniors Brian Bucknam (Woodbury, Conn.) and Chris Turner (Brookfield, Conn.) defeated Eric Johnson (Kingston, Mass.) and Hung Huynh (Worcester, Mass.), 8-4 at the First Flight pairs while freshmen Ricardo Fuentes (Newtown, Conn.) and William Donahue (Weatogue, Conn.) defeated Jesse Gotlib (Dartmouth, Mass.) and Matt McGee (Warren, R.I), 8-4 at Second Flight doubles.

Cody Farrell (Scituate, Mass.) and Michael Mello (Dartmouth, Mass.) kept the Bears within reach by defeating Jason Hipona (Orange, Conn.) and Daniel Winter (New Milford, CT), 8-5 in the final doubles match.

The Colonials, now 8-3 on the season, took three singles matches to close out the match.

Turner narrowly got by Huynh in their first set, but cruised in the second to take a 7-6 (8-6), 6-1 victory at third singles.

Donahue posted a 6-0, 6-4 win over Johnson at fourth solos while Fuentes squeaked by McGee, 6-3, 7-6 (7-5) at fifth singles.  The remainder of the matches were left unfinished.

Western will take on the Beacons on Friday, May 2 in the LEC Semifinals.  The match is scheduled to begin at 3 pm.  Bridgewater ends the season with a record of 3-12.