NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. – The LIU men's tennis team traveled to take on Merrimack on Sunday and bested the Warriors, 5-2. Despite dropping the doubles, the Sharks recovered and came back to win five singles points in a row.
 
"We came to Massachusetts looking to bounce back after the close loss to Bryant yesterday. Merrimack came out strong and secured the doubles and number one singles points," said Associate Head Coach Pavlos Stephanies. "Despite that, the boys showed confidence and resilience by winning five matches in a row in the two through six spots to secure the win that puts us as 2-1 in the NEC conference," he added.
 
SHARK BITES

• The Sharks won struck first in doubles when Sergio Fernandez Romera and Philip Hilble took down their opponents 6-1. Merrimack came back though and with wins on courts two and one took the doubles point to lead 1-0 on the match.
• The Warriors then swiftly grabbed another point for the match with a win on court one to go ahead 2-0.
• On court three, Fernandez Romera grabbed the first Shark singles win for the evening when he downed his opponent in a dominating 6-1, 6-2 performance.
• Akhilendran Indrabalan on court four leveled the match 2-2, topping his opponent 6-4, 6-1. Then, Hilble on court six grabbed a 6-2, 6-3 win over his opponent to put the Sharks ahead 3-2.
• The match clinching performance belonged to Ben Brandherm who won on court two, topping his opponent 7-5, 6-1 to give the Sharks the victory at 4-2 before Alessandro D'Anna added to the victory with his 7-6(4), 6-7(4), 10-5 victory on court five to put the match score at 5-2.
• Up next, the Sharks will be taking on Queens College on Friday March 4 at 11 a.m.

 
LIU 5, MC 2
 
Doubles

1. Jan Semerak/Jonathan Garcia (MC) def. Ben Brandherm/Danila Ishchanka (LIU), 6-4
2. Keita Duclos/Conrad Koch (MC) def. Guilherme De Medeiros/Akhilendran Indrabalan (LIU), 6-3
3. Sergio Fernandez Romera/Philip Hilble (LIU) def. Henrik Lindeman/Valentin Riveros (MC), 6-1

 
Order of finish: 3, 2, 1
 
Singles

1. Jan Semerak (MC) def. Danila Ishchanka (LIU), 6-2, 6-1
2. Ben Brandherm (LIU) def. Jonathan Garcia (MC), 7-5, 6-1
3. Sergio Fernandez Romera def. Andre Singer (MC), 6-1, 6-2
4. Akhilendran Indrabalan (LIU) def. Valentin Riveros (MC), 6-4, 6-1
5. Alessandro D'Anna (LIU) def. Henrik Lindeman (MC), 7-6 (4), 6-7(4), 10-5
6. Philip Hilble (LIU) def. Charles Robertson (MC), 6-2, 6-3

 
Order of finish: 1, 3, 4, 6, 2, 5