The Cabrini men’s tennis team fell to Colonial States Athletic Conference foe Keystone College with a score of 6-3 on Saturday, April 9 at the Dixon Courts.
In this match Head Coach Rich Aldrete decided to alter the typical lineup moving junior Nate Martin to the No. 3 position and junior Justin Lutteroty to the No. 4 position. The move paid off with Martin and Lutteroty having the only singles victories of the day.
“We did that today and that worked well to create an upset,” Aldrete said.
Lutteroty and Martin have two different styles of playing the game Martin claimed. Lutteroty is more of an offensive player eager to make the tough shots, while Martin is more of a defensive player with his speed.
“Coach knows I like to run around and play defense,” Martin said. “He felt like I was more equipped for this guys game plan.”
Martin took down Keystone’s Sean Hanahue, 7-5, 6-4, for his team-best fourth singles win of the season.
“I was hitting the ball better. Coach had enough confidence to put me in the No. 3 spot so I had more confidence in myself,” Martin said.
Lutteroty posted his third singles win of the year against Keystone’s Abraham Shagoury with a score of 6-4, 6-2, at the No. 4 position.
“Coach decided to move me down to No. 4 and Nate to No. 3 hopefully to squeeze out two victories and it did work,” Lutteroty said.
Aldrete was also impressed with the play of Cabrini’s No. 1 player junior Ian Monson, who nearly pulled off an amazing victory.
“It was good to see our No. 1 player have a shot at winning. He was a point away from winning the match in three sets,” Aldrete said.
The third point in the 6-3 loss came from a doubles win. Lutteroty and Monson took down Keystone’s Hanahue and Mark Musumeci with a 9-7 score.
“If they’re second and they finish second and we beat Gwynedd and we finish third, we’ll have another shot at them in the first round of the conference,” Aldrete said.
In their next match Cabrini will take on CSAC rival Gwynedd-Mercy College at 11 a.m. on Aug. 16.