Mountain Hawks look to stay hot as they head to sunny Florida
Posted: 03/07/2013
BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The Lehigh men’s tennis team is about to embark on a Spring Break trip to Florida where the Mountain Hawks will face four opponents over three days from March 11-13. The Mountain Hawks will start their trip in Melbourne, Fla. for matches against Florida Tech and Fairfield before heading to Daytona Beach to hit the courts against Marquette and Bethune-Cookman.
While the warm weather will certainly be welcome after a cold Bethlehem winter, this will be the Mountain Hawks’ first time playing outdoors this season which will present a unique set of challenges.
T
he Mountain Hawks are certainly on a hot streak right now having won seven straight matches, completing a perfect 7-0 home stand with a 6-1 win over Temple last Sunday. Lehigh captured two of three doubles matches and won five singles matches to improve to 8-1 heading into their spring break trip. In doubles play, Lehigh has been led by its No. 3 team of sophomore Ben Gilman and senior Andrew Krentz, which is 8-1 on the season. Sophomore Mitchell Petersen has been the top singles performer with an 8-1 record, playing primarily at No.3, while Gilman and Krentz are 7-2 at No. 1 and No. 5 respectively.
Lehigh will square off against its first opponent, Florida Tech, on Monday March 11 at 2 p.m. Florida Tech enters the matchup with a 4-3 record on the season after winning two of its most recent matches this week against Findlay and Brevard College. The Panthers will play two matches before facing Lehigh, taking on Newberry on March 7 and Michigan Tech on March 9.
The Mountain Hawks second match in Melbourne against Fairfield will take place the following day at noon. Fairfield enters the match with a 5-2 record on the season after recently defeating Hofstra 6-1. The Stags trip to Florida will begin in Orlando where they will play Creighton on March 11 before their contest against the Mountain Hawks.
The Lehigh will then play two matches on March 13 in Daytona Beach, opening the day against Big East member Marquette at 9 a.m. and Bethune-Cookman at 3 p.m. Marquette owns a 7-5 record on the season but will face Northern Illinois on March 8 before they take on the Mountain Hawks. Bethune-Cookman is 6-7 on the season and will have a busy schedule it hits the courts against Lehigh. The Wildcats will meet Belmont, St. Thomas, ASA College, Robert Morris and Northern Kentucky before facing the Mountain Hawks.
Following its trip to Florida, Lehigh will return home to face Saint Joseph’s on March 19 before opening up Patriot League play the following weekend.
Story by Taylor Boyd ‘13