BEL AIR, Md.—The Harford men's tennis team dropped just one match as it downed visiting Williamson Free Trade, 8-1, on Wednesday at Harford Community College. Five players were double-winners on the day for the Fighting Owls (2-2), while Nathan Granja was the only winner for the Mechanics (0-4).
The No. 2 doubles team of sophomore Steve Heagy (Fallston, Md./Fallston) and freshman Marc Donars (Joppa, Md./Harford Tech) started things off with an 8-0 blanking of Jesse Bolt and Matthew Rave, while the No. 1 team of freshman Cory Litka (York, Pa./Aberdeen/East Stroudsburg) and sophomore Josh Meier (Belcamp, Md./Home School) downed Curtis Schoefield and Granja, 8-4. The No. 3 team of freshmen Kevin O'Brien (Bel Air, Md./C. Milton Wright) and Walker Bazemore (Churchville, Md./C. Milton Wright) edged Tyler Rodkey and Peter Achuff, 8-6.
Litka, Meier and Bazemore dominated their singles matches with Litka and Meier downing Schoefield and Achuff, 6-1, 6-0 in the No. 1 and No. 2 slots, respectively, while Bazemore blanked John Jewell 6-0 in the first set and notched a 6-1 second set win in the No. 6 singles spot.
The No. 3, 4 and 5 singles matches all went to three sets, with Heagy's No. 3 bout seeing tiebreakers for each set. Heagy earned a 7-6 (7-2) win in set one, but fell, 7-6 (7-1) in the second set to force a third set tiebreaker, which saw Granja earn the 7-6 (7-4) win.
Donars and O'Brien each dropped their first set, but claimed the next two for the match win, with Donars downing Rodkey, 5-7, 6-2, 7-6 (7-5) and O'Brien dispatching Bolt, 4-6, 6-2, 7-6 (7-4).
The Fighting Owls return to action on Thursday when they travel to MDJUCO-rival Montgomery College-Rockville for a 3:30 p.m. match.
