Men's Tennis Falls to Wentworth in Home Opener, 5-2

BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- The Bridgewater State University men's tennis team dropped a 5-2 decision to visiting Wentworth on Thursday afternoon at the Rosen Memorial Tennis Courts. The match marked the home opener for the Bears.

The visiting Leopards improve to 2-7 on the season while the Bears fall to 1-1.

The two teams have met eight times since 2015 with seven of the eight matches taking place at the Rosen Courts. Wentworth has won six of the eight meetings including each of the last three.

The Leopards swept the three doubles matches to take the early 1-0 lead. Senior Pranav Marwaha (Nashua, N.H.) teamed with junior Rene Rodriguez (Doral, Fla.) for a 6-2 win at the second flight while the pairing of senior Niko Rosich (Chicago, Ill.) and sophomore Manas Arya (Hessen, Germany) posted a 6-3 victory at number three. Junior Eric Doraci (Natick, Mass.) and freshman Andre Juscamaita (Lima, Peru) completed the doubles sweep with a 6-4 decision at number one.

Juscamaita notched a 6-3, 6-0 straight set win at the top singles flight and Rodriguez earned a 6-2, 6-1 straight set triumph at number three to extend the Wentworth lead to 3-0.

Sophomore Anthony Lucas (Weymouth, Mass.) got the Bears on the board with a 6-4, 6-3 straight set victory at the sixth flight and freshman Tyler Rocchio (Attleboro, Mass.) cut the BSU deficit to 3-2 as he battled back from a set down to record a 3-6, 6-1, 6-0 win at number five.

Rosich, however, outlasted BSU sophomore Khiem Nguyen (Burlington, Vt.) in tough three-setter at fourth singles, 6-2, 3-6, 6-4, to secure the decisive fourth point for the visitors.

Marwaha capped off the 5-2 win for Wentworth with a tough three-set victory at second singles over BSU junior Tom Ayson (Plymouth, Mass.), 5-7, 6-4, 6-3.

The Bears are off until next Wednesday afternoon when they entertain Roger Williams University at 3:30.