BEL AIR, Md.—The Harford men's tennis team split dual matches with Rhode Island and Orange, falling to the Knights (2-1), 7-2, and blanking the Colts (0-4), 9-0 before tying for third at the Harford Invitational with seven points last week.
The Fighting Owls (1-2) No. 3 doubles team of sophomore Ben Wade (Joppatowne, Md./Joppatowne) and freshman Chay McGrath (Street, Md.) downed Rhode Island's Ashley Llewellyn and Phil Vieira, 8-2, while sophomore Josh Meier (Belcamp, Md./Home School) was victorious at No. 2 singles, handing Tim Steere a 6-4, 6-1 decision.
On Friday, Harford had five double-winners in the match against Orange as the No. 1 doubles team of Meier and freshman Cory Litka (York, Pa./Aberdeen/East Stroudsburg) downed Stephen Gould and Russell Scaringi, 8-2, the No. 2 team of sophomore Steve Heagy (Fallston, Md./Fallston) and freshman Marc Donars (Joppa, Md./Harford Tech) defeated Joe Lewis and Dan Lynch, 9-7 and Wade and freshman Walker Bazemore (Churchville, Md./C. Milton Wright) notched an 8-4 win over Kulbir Singh and Alex Wilson.
Litka, Meier, Heagy, Donars and Wade also won their respective singles matches, while freshman Kevin O'Brien (Bel Air, Md./C. Milton Wright) won the No. 6 bout over Wilson, 4-6, 6-4, 10-6.
Litka fared the best in the two-day Harford Invitational on Saturday and Sunday, finishing as the runner-up at No. 1 singles. He pushed Mercer's Matt Pierson to three sets in the final, dropping the first, 6-1, but earning a 7-6 (7-5) victory in set two to force a third set super tiebreaker, which Pierson narrowly won, 10-8, to claim the No. 1 singles title.
Meier also made it to the finals, in the No. 2 slot, where he fell to Mercer's Jason Bielski, 6-0, 6-3, while Donars was just barely edged by Onondaga's Troy Bulluck at No. 4 singles. Donars earned the first set win, 6-4 before Bulluck evened the match with a 7-5 second-set win to force a third-set super tiebreaker. The tiebreaker, which is normally 10 points, was pushed to a 15-13 decision, with Donars coming out on the wrong end.
In the extra draw for the No. 7 and No. 8 players, Bazemore made it to the final, falling to Mercer's Matt Romano by a score of 8-5.
Mercer won the tournament with 24 points, while Brookdale was the runner-up with 16 points and Harford and Onondaga rounded out the top three by tying for third with seven points each. Orange, who also had seven points, finished fourth as a result of the third tiebreaking criteria (number of finalists) with Harford and Onondaga, while SUNY-Delhi and MC-Rockville rounded out the field by tying for sixth with one point each.
The Fighting Owls return to action on Wednesday when they host Williamson Free Trade for a dual match at 3:30 p.m.
