PRINCE ATHLETIC COMPLEX – The penultimate match of the 2021 season for the University of Rochester men's tennis team did not go as planned, falling by a 9-0 score to visiting Niagara University on Saturday at the Lyman Tennis Center.
 
Niagara, a Division I opponent, improved to 3-7 on the season, while Rochester suffers its third loss of the year, moving to 1-3.
 
The Yellowjackets hung tough in doubles play with the visiting Purple Eagles, but ultimately the visitors took all three matches to go ahead 3-0. At #1, the pair of Pasquale Procaccino and Kai Yuminaga dropped a close 8-6 match to Bruno Goncalves and William Gothlin.
 
Number two doubles went by an 8-2 score to Niagara, while at #3, Adrian Zhang and Kenneth Lee were beaten 8-4 by Manuel Alonso and Roberto Vaca.
 
Five of the six singles matches went in favor of Niagara in straight sets with Procaccino putting up the toughest fight at #1 singles. UR's junior won the opening set 6-4, but his opponent Alonso was able to rally with 6-4 and 10-4 wins in the remaining sets.
 
Before the three-set match at #1, Niagara had clinched the match with wins at #2 from Jorge Sedeno over Yuminaga and Gothlin at #3 over Connor Wagner. Wagner fought to a tiebreak in the second set but lost 6-1, 7-6 (1). Yuminaga was defeated 6-1, 6-2.
 
Rounding out the rest of the match, Niagara got wins from Pere Padro at #4, Goncalves at #5 and Vaca at #6. Padro won 6-1, 6-2 over Antony Georgiadis, Goncalves won 6-2, 6-4 over Zhang and Vaca upended Lee 6-0, 6-2.
 
Rochester's final match of the season is set for next Wednesday against St. Lawrence University, with a start time of 4 pm.