HAVERHILL, Mass. – The Fairfield University men's tennis team picked up wins in four of six single matches which secured a season-opening victory for the Stags over Merrimack College by a 4-3 score. The home team swept the doubles flight to earn its third point of the match.

              Kaya Gore earned a victory at No. 1 in three sets over Jan Semerak by 6-2, 2-6, 6-4 scores. Jonathan Olive-Blanco secured another three-set win at No. 2, defeating Jonathan Garcia at 6-2, 6-7 (7-3), 7-5. Lewis Edwards also garnered a point with his decision over Andre Singer in straight sets (6-1, 7-5). The Stags' fourth win at singles came from No. 5 as Griffin Schlesinger swept Conrad Koch with 6-4, 6-2 scores. Stefan Mitrovic (6-2, 0-6, 2-6) and Allan Magrid (6-7, 6-2, 0-1) were edged in three sets at No.4 and No. 6 respectively.


              "It was great to get back on the court today and compete," Head Coach Jeff Bricker said. "We were a bit tight today but we were able to overcome a slow start and grind out a victory. We definitely have a lot of work ahead of us but it was good to be on the court. We had strong singles play from Kaya, Jonathan, Lewis, and Griffin which powered us to the 'W'."

               In doubles play, Gore and Keenan Shah paired up at No. 1, falling to Aryaan Bhatia and Semerak at 6-2. Edwards and Olive-Blanco represented the Stags at No. 2 but were unable to overcome Garcia and Alec Mackay Rodriguez (6-3). Mitrovic and Jan Perizek finalized at No. 3 with a 6-1 setback to Singer and Pedro de Dodoy Mancini.

              Fairfield returns to the court on March 12 when the team travels to St. John's University for a noon match.