CAMDEN, N.J. - The Penn State Abington men's tennis team dropped a 5-4 decision to the host Scarlet Raptors of Rutgers-Camden Wednesday afternoon on the courts of the Rutgers University-Camden community park.
Abington fell behind early, down 2-1 after doubles as senior
Steven Ly and junior
Kevin Wilkinson paired up at No. 2 doubles and defeated Rutgers-Camden's Onkar and Drew Delengowski, 8-3 to prevent the defending North Eastern Athletic Conference champions from sweeping doubles play. Junior duos
James Howell and
Monte Dunson fell in a tight 8-5 match at No. 1 doubles.
After
Mike Herman won at first singles 6-1, 6-0, the Scarlet Raptors kept the Nittany Lions at bay with a 6-1, 6-4 victory at second singles for the 3-2 lead. The Blue and White quickly rebound and collected a pair of wins from Dunson at third singles and Ly at fourth singles after a tight 2-6, 7-5, 7-5 battle to give Abington the 4-3 lead with two matches remaining.
Abington, thought it was one point away from victory, could not get the final two points to win the match as Rutgers-Camden won the fifth and sixth singles in straight sets for the victory.
Abington dips to 6-5 on the year and 2-1 in the NEAC, while Rutgers-Camden improves to 5-4 overall and 3-0 in conference play.
The Nittany Lions will return to action next week as they host Keuka College on Friday, April 18 to close out the NEAC Conference match-ups before the conference tournament.
Rutgers University-Camden 5, Penn State Abington 4| Singles competition |
| 1. Mike Herman (PSAM) def. Onkar Sing (RUTM) 6-1, 6-0 |
| 2. Terry Long (RUTM) def. James Howell (PSAM) 6-1, 6-4 |
| 3. Monte Dunson (PSAM) def. Kevin Zimba (RUTM) 6-4, 6-2 |
| 4. Steven Ly (PSAM) def. Lloyd Pearson (RUTM) 2-6, 7-5, 7-5 |
| 5. Michael Steinberger (RUTM) def. Kevin Wilkinson (PSAM) 6-1, 6-2 |
| 6. Drew Delengowski (RUTM) def. Sam Borai (PSAM) 7-5, 6-0 |
