Men's Tennis Starts Season with Second Straight Shutout Victory

The NJIT men's tennis team followed up Friday's season-opening shutout victory with another 7-0 win, this time over visiting Hofstra at the Naimoli Tennis Center. 

Box Score

The Highlanders once again won a tough doubles point before sweeping all six singles position to improve to 2-0 on the season while the Pride are now 1-1 after beating Marist on Saturday and falling to NIT on Sunday.

"We had another solid day today," said Head Coach Marco Matteucci. "Hofstra played solid doubles against us, and I am happy with how our guys stayed composed and didn't let the opportunity slip away to close out the doubles point. We certainly stepped up our game in doubles today compared to Friday."

The Highlanders went ahead in doubles quick thanks to a 6-0 win at the #3 position by freshmen Pavel Petrov and Nejc Skorjanc. NJIT then got a 6-4 victory from Amine El Kholti and Samuel Townes at #2 and a tight, 7-6 win from Pablo Perez Ramos and Josh Smith at #1 to complete the sweep.

NJIT made quick work of the Pride in singles play, earning decisive wins at the top three positions to clinch the match. 

Perez Ramos won his match at #1 6-0, 6-1, Skorjanc was victorious 6-2, 6-3 at #2 and El Kholti won 6-3, 6-4 to put the Highlanders ahead 4-0. Smith played at #4 for NJIT and battled his opponent to a 6-3, 3-6, 14-12 decision to go ahead 5-0, before Oscar Callo von Platen and Wil Jenkins won at #5 and #6 respectively, with dominating scores of 6-1, 6-1 and 6-0, 6-0.

"Once we had the lead, we were able to keep it, as opposed to last year's 4-3 win over Hofstra," added Matteucci. "It was a very positive day and we look forward to improving our mental strength."

NJIT will look to continue its hot start to the season on Friday when it continues its 10-match homestand against LIU. First serve is slated for 3 p.m. back in the Naimoli Tennis Center. 

Complete Results
Doubles
1: Pablo Perez Ramos/Josh Smith (N) def. Bo Cautaerts/ Ostap Kovalenko, 7-6
2: Amine El Kholti/Samuel Townes (N) def. Josh Reynolds/Matthew Garcia, 6-4
3: Pavel Petrov/Nejc Skorjanc (N) def. Mahrt Guyou/Hideki Matsuoka, 6-0
 
Singles
1: Pablo Perez Ramos (N) def Bo Cautaerts, 6-0, 6-1
2: Nejc Skorjanc (N) def Ostap Kovalenko, 6-2, 6-3
3: Amine El Kholti (N) def Matthew Garcia, 6-3, 6-4
4: Josh Smith (N) def. Josh Reynolds, 6-4, 3-6, 14-12
5: Oscar Callo von Platen (N) def. Mahrt Guyou, 6-1, 6-1
6: Wil Jenkins (N) def. Kaita Odani, 6-0, 6-0