Temple University Athletics
Owls Beat City Rival Drexel, 5-2, In Men's Tennis
2.20.09 | Men's Tennis
Feb. 20, 2009
PHILADELPHIA - Temple won for the third time in its last four matches with a 5-2 defeat over city rival Drexel on Friday afternoon at the Arthur Ashe Tennis Center. After dropping the doubles point, the Owls rallied to win five singles matches in dominant fashion.
Freshman Filip Rams and senior Eduardo Saavedra was the only double team to win, beating Jason Savage-Pollock/Sabyasachi Bose by an 8-0 score. The Owls headed into singles competition needing to win four singles matches to earn the team victory.
The Cherry and White (4-5) did more than that, winning five in straight sets. Rams, who was playing hurt after not competing in singles last Friday, won at first singles over Joe Koebele, 6-2, 6-3.
Senior Nathan Spunda won 7-6, 6-3 at second singles over Mehdi Rhazzli, 7-6, 6-3 while freshman Dmitry Vizhunov, the reigning Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Week, had little trouble at fourth singles. He beat Jason Savage-Pollock, 6-1, 6-4 for his fourth straight win.
Temple was equally impressive at fifth and sixth singles. Freshman Mansur Gishkaev won 6-0, 6-3 over Brian Nguyen at #5, while Saavedra took down Ben Trabin, 6-0, 6-1 at #6.
Drexel drops to 4-3.
The Cherry and White, who improves to a perfect 3-0 at Arthur Ashe with the victory, travels to Old Dominion on Saturday. The match will begin at 3 PM.
