Mahrous wins deciding match as Trailblazers nip Hornets
North Adams, MA- Mohamed Mahrous won a third set tiebreak to lift the MCLA Mixed Tennis team to a hard fought 5-4 non conference win over NVU-Lyndon this afternoon at the Zavattaro Athletics Complex. The Trailblazers are now over .500 at 5-4 on the season. The Hornets are still searching for their first win as they are 0-9.
After Doubles play, MCLA led 2-1, but the Hornets would make the Trailblazers work for it. The visitors pulled ahead 3-2 after Patrick Wickstrom and Neil Mulligan recorded wins in the top two singles slots. When Abu Hassen defeated Felix Bou, the Hornets led 4-2, but couldn't close out the hosts.
Sam Gawron took a point convincingly in the fourth singles slot 6-1, 6-2 and when Nick Castle defeated Kyle Leighton in straight sets, the match was tied at 4-4 setting the stage for Mahrous' match.
Mahrous took the first set off Lyndon's Jeremy Polinia 6-1, but lost the second set 7-5 to bring them to the tiebreaker. Battling darkness, Mahrous would eventually prevail 7-3 in the tiebreak and clinch the match for MCLA.
The two teams have met twice this year with MCLA pulling off victories in both.
The Trailblazers wrap up the regular season on Thursday with a match against SUNY-Delhi.