(Feature photo from 2019 season)
WATERVILLE, Maine - The Tufts University men's tennis team began its 2021 season with a trip to Maine and a solid 6-3 victory over NESCAC foe Colby College.
The Jumbos, ranked #18 to Colby's #37 in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association poll, won five of the first six matches to finish to secure the victory. The host Mules took their first loss of the season and dropped to 2-1 (1-1 NESCAC).
Senior Boris Sorkin and sophomore Josh Belandres, the #7 ranked doubles tandem in the nation, got their season off to a good start with an 8-5 win over Colby's Jan Wenger and Joey Barrett to put Tufts on the scoreboard. The Jumbos won doubles 2-1, with the #2 pair of Paris Pentousis and Niko Hereford also winning (8-4). The Mules win at #3 was by Max Schuermann and Sam Henry.
Sorkin then also had the first singles win for Tufts, claiming a 6-0, 4-6, 10-5 final over Wenger. That was the first of three straight singles victories for Tufts. Pentousis had the easiest Jumbo win at #4 (6-3, 6-4) and senior Owen Bartok clinched the team victory with a comeback 4-6, 6-2, 10-2 win over Garrett Reiter in the sixth spot.
Colby would win two of the last three singles matches. In the #3 spot Sumukh Pathi won the third-set tie-breaker 14-12 against Rishabh Sharda. Tufts junior Isaac Gorelik at #2 finished the match with a pair of 7-5 wins against Barrett.
The Jumbos are slated to play at Connecticut College next Sunday. Colby's next match at the moment isn't until April 24 at Trinity.
