United States Coast Guard Academy - Department of Athletics - Men's Tennis

EASTON, MASS.--(2/27/10)--Sometimes a tough loss to a solid program like Vassar is just the preparation needed to play another great program. That was the case as the Coast Guard Academy pulled off a repeat of last year’s 6-3 upset, beating Division II Stonehill College (ranked #5 in the east).

The doubles provided a preview of how the night would play out, taking nearly two hours to complete, and requiring tiebreakers to decide all three matches.

Senior captain Chris Pappe and sophomore Greg Mitchell took the #1 doubles, beating Stonehill junior Tim Fayed and senior Mike Mashkevich 9-8(4). Coast Guard sophomore Nick Martin paired with freshman Blake Maurer to win the #2 doubles 9-8(6) over senior Mike Leone and sophomore Jon Burke. Then Stonehill sophomore Aaron Bergerone and freshman Chris Martin broke senior Cody Isaacson, serving at 8-7, and held on to win the #3 doubles 9-8(7) over Isaacson and fellow senior Vince Falco.

The top four singles took the courts and the Bears jumped out to a quick start with Mitchell, playing at #1 against Fayed, taking the first set 6-3; Pappe, playing #3 against Leone, doing the same; and Maurer, playing #4 against Burke, winning his first set 6-2. But Stonehill fought back. They won the second set in all three matches.

Martin, on court #2, was in a marathon match. He played Mashkevich dead even in a first set that completed just as the other singles matches all split sets - Mashkevich pulled out the tiebreaker to win the set 7-6(2).

Back on court #1, Mitchell finished his third set first, winning convincingly, 6-1. Pappe followed shortly after, winning his third set 6-3, after having dropped the second set 6-0 and the Bears led 4-1.

Maurer who had lost his second set in a tiebreaker 7-6(5), and appeared to be heading for another tiebreaker, when he held serve to go up 5-4 in the third set.

Martin, on court #2 was in another marathon set. He won 6-4, but since Maurer’s match had not finished, Martin and Mashkevich had to start playing a third set.

Back on court #4, Burke was serving to Maurer at 4-5 and he was struggling. Burke saved one match point to reach deuce, but Maurer blasted shots on each of the next two points that forced errors. Maurer won the third set 6-4, to give the Bears the deciding dual match point.

Martin, on court #2, looked fresh, and seemed ready to play a fourth or even a fifth set if necessary. He continued to hit great shots. But fatigue had caught up to Mashkevich. He finally faded to lose the third set to Martin 6-2.

Stonehill got both the #5 and #6 singles, but after nearly five hours, the match this night belonged to Coast Guard. The win was a great way to end the February indoor season.