Tuesday's CACC Men's Tennis Championship match marked also the 11
th consecutive championship match appearance for Chestnut Hill College, dating back to the 2013 season (there was no championship in 2020 due to COVID pandemic).
The first team to win four points would capture the championship and the "race to four" began with three very competitive doubles contests.
The Griffins started the match strongly with all three doubles teams jumping out to a 3-0 lead in their respective matches. The Rams, however, rallied in each match as it progressed. The Griffins' number one doubles team of
Noah Cutting and
Antonio Franquis held off a challenge from Jefferson's Hannibal Borg and Enrique Soto to win 6-3. Mario Antonio and Johary Rabetrano defeated
Siddharth Malik and
Pedro Vicente 6-3 at #2 doubles bring it down to the final doubles contest to see who won the doubles point. Jefferson prevailed in the final doubles match as Jules Thibault and Antonio Mateos defeated
Tiago Lima and
Joao Sousa 6-4, giving the Rams a 1-0 lead.
The "race for four" began in earnest with the singles competition. The Rams took a 2-0 lead when Mateos defeated Malik 6-2, 6-1 at #5 singles but the Griffins then got on the board as Vicente scored a 6-3, 6-2 win over Rabetrano at #6 singles, cutting the Rams lead to 2-1.
Antonio defeated Franquis 6-43, 6-4 at #2 singles to push Jefferson to the brink of capturing their third title. Three matches were left with Sousa and Lima going into a third set at #4 and #3 singles respectively and two of the top players and hardest hitters in the league, Borg and Cutting, battling it out at the #1 singles spot.
Borg closed out the match coming away with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Cutting before Sousa and Lima could complete their matches, giving the Rams the title with a 4-1 win.
Cutting and Vicente were selected to the All-Tournament Team following the conclusion of the match.
The Griffins finished their 2023-24 season with a 10-9-1 record.
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