April 1, 2002

EASTON, Pa. (www.lafayette.edu) - The Leopard men's tennis team opened their spring home season with a 7-0 win over Rider on Monday at Sullivan Courts. The win was the 15th straight victory over Rider, and the fourth consecutive sweep for the Leopards.

Freshman Matt Coin (Wenonah, N.J./Gateway) got past Rider's Bernard Balagula without dropping a game to win 6-0, 6-0 at No. 1 singles. Junior co-captain H'Cone Thompson (Washington, D.C./DeMatha) defeated the Broncs' Tim Koch at the No. 2 spot, 6-2, 6-0.

At No. 3 singles, junior Ryan Collins (Whitehouse Station, N.J./Hunterdon Central Regional) picked up a win over Jeff Marchitello (6-0, 6-2) while sophomore Devin Murphy (Ruxton, Md./Boys Latin School) gave up just one game to beat Rider's Frank Ruggiero, 6-1, 6-0.

Freshman John Zazzu (Belle Mead, N.J./Montgomery) defeated Doug Kreszl at the No. 5 spot, 6-1, 6-2 while senior Mike Levey (Pine Brook, N.J./Montville) downed Rider's Neil McConnell, 6-4, 6-3 at No. 6 singles.

Lafayette swept all three doubles matches with Coin/Thompson in the No. 1 spot, Collins/Zazzu at No. 2 and Murphy/Brian Schubert (Richmond, Va./Mills E. Godwin) at No. 3.

Lafayette (10-2, 1-1) returns to action on Thursday to host Villanova at 3 p.m.

Singles:
Rank    Player                      Player                  Score#1  Matt Coin (LC)          def.    Bernard Balagula (RU)   6-0, 6-0#2  H'Cone Thompson (LC)    def.   Tim Koch (RU)           6-2, 6-0#3  Ryan Collins (LC)       def. Jeff Marchitello (RU)   6-0, 6-2#4  Devin Murphy (LC)       def. Frank Ruggiero (RU)     6-1, 6-0#5  John Zazzu (LC)         def.   Doug Kreszl (RU)        6-1, 6-2#6  Mike Levey (LC)         def.   Neil McConnell (RU)     6-4, 6-3
Doubles:
#1  Coin/Thompson (LC)        def.  Balagula/Ruggiero (RU)  8-0#2  Collins/Zazzu (LC)        def.  Koch/Marchitello (RU)   8-3#3  Murphy/Brian Schubert(LC) def.  Kreszl/Andrew Ducz (RU) 8-5