GORHAM, Maine – Junior Adam Whitman (New Castle, N.H./Portsmouth) earned an 6-3, 6-2 win at first singles to lead the University of Southern Maine Huskies to a 6-3 win over the Bridgewater State University Bears in a Little East Conference men's tennis match Tuesday afternoon in Gorham, Maine.
The Huskies won two out of three doubles points to start the match and earned their fifth consecutive win to improve to 7-4 overall and 2-1 in the Little East Conference. Bridgewater State falls to 9-3 overall and suffers its first loss in conference play to stand at 3-1. The match was moved indoors after the doubles points had played out due to inclement weather.
Sophomore Thaddeus St. John (Weld, Maine/Mt. Blue) and junior Christopher G. Ross (Somerset, Mass.) earned an 8-2 win at second doubles, while junior Corey Dyke (Monmouth, Maine/Monmouth Academy) took an 8-5 win at third doubles.
Leading 2-1 heading into singles play, USM won four out of the six singles points. Whitman defeated BSU sophomore Wesley Esthimer (Franklin, Mass.) to lead the Huskies from the top of the order. Playing second singles, St. John defeated freshman Matt McLeod (Leicester, Mass.) 6-1, 6-2.
USM also earned points at third and fourth singles. Scott Gagne (Lewiston, Maine) earned a 6-1, 6-2 win at third singles downing Bridgewater junior Jesse Gotlib (Dartmouth, Mass.), while Ross downed Bears junior Cody Farrell (Scituate, Mass.) 6-1, 6-2 in fourth singles.
BSU received wins from sophomore Sean Bleau (North Dighton, Mass./Dighton-Rehoboth) and junior Eric Johnson (Kingston, Mass./Silver Lake Regional) at fifth and sixth singles respectively.
Southern Maine travels to UMass Dartmouth on Saturday (1:00 p.m.) for a Little East Conference match. Bridgewater State hosts UMass Dartmouth on Wednesday (3:00 p.m.).
At Gorham, Maine
Bridgewater State (9-3, 3-1 LEC) 3
Southern Maine (7-4, 2-1 LEC) 6
Singles
1. Adam Whitman (SM) def. Wesley Esthimer (B) 6-3, 6-2
2. Thaddeus St. John (SM) def. Matt McLeod (B) 6-1, 6-2
3. Scott Gagne (SM) def. Jesse Gotlib (B) 6-1, 6-2
4. Christopher G. Ross (SM) def. Cody Farrell (B) 6-1, 6-2
5. Sean Bleau (B) def. Jon Sproul (SM) 3-6, 7-5,10-3
6. Eric Johnson (B) def. Corey Dyke (SM) 2-6, 6-4, 10-6
Doubles
1. Gotlib/Bleau (B) def. Whitman/Gagne (SM) 8-5
2. Ross/St. John (SM) def. Johnson/Hung Huynh (B) 8-2
3. Dyke/Sproul (SM) def. Farrell/McLeod (B) 8-5
–cac–
