WORCESTOR, Mass. – The Lynx took two out of three in doubles and split in the singles portion of the match to take a 5-4 victory over New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) foe Becker College. With the win, Lesley improves to 6-4 on the year, 5-2 in NECC play, while the Hawks drop to an even .500 at 3-3 overall and in conference matches.
Nick Mattox (Pasadena, Md.) and Mike Kaufman (Boca Raton, Fla.) won their fourth straight doubles match in the No. 1 slot, topping Branden Parkhouse (Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.) and Troy Scott, 8-4. Lesley senior Alex Zhitnik (West Hartford, Conn.) and junior Thomas Tedesco (Bristol, Conn.) also grabbed an 8-4 win in the second slot, defeating Hawks' juniors David Graham (Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.) and Viktor Tuurala.
Becker took their first victory of the night when Jeffrey Labby and Brittan Morris took down Lynx senior Jimmy Paulsen (Monroe, Conn.) and sophomore Jordan Santos (Middlebury, Conn.), 8-1, in third doubles.
The Hawks went on to take the first two singles matches of the day, as Parkhouse took Zhitnik 6-2, 6-3 in No. 2 singles and took a 3-2 match advantage when Morris hit past Santos 6-3, 6-2 in the No. 5 slot.
The Lynx tied the match back up at 3-3 when Tedesco hung on for a 7-5, 7-5 victory over Tuurala in the No. 4 singles match.
The Hawks reclaimed the lead in the back-and-forth affair when Graham topped Kaufman 6-4, 6-3 in third singles, leaving it to the final two matches to decide on the winner.
Paulsen and Mattox came through in the clutch for the Lynx as they both turned out victories in No. 6 and No. 1 singles, respectively. Paulsen grabbed a 6-3, 6-2 marathon win over Labby to tie the match at 4-4.
Mattox finished it off, out-scrambling his opponent, Troy Scott, and gutting out a 7-5, 6-3 win that also lasted over two hours and gave Lesley a key 5-4 conference win.
The Lynx have won four out of their last five matches and are 5-0 in their last five NECC matches.
The Green and Gold will be back in action on Monday, April 15th when they travel to Curry College for a non-conference match that begins at 3:30p.