Emmitsburg, Md. (September 25, 2013) – The Mount men's tennis team put on a dominating performance in a 6-1 victory over Shepherd in the first dual match of the fall on Wednesday at the Mount Tennis Courts. The Mount won all three doubles matches and added five singles wins to open the season 1-0.

The home side began the match with strong doubles play to earn the point for a 1-0 lead over the Rams (1-3). Peter Salomon and Louis Tonon ran their record to 4-1 with an 8-4 victory over Chris Pratt and Steven Kolumban at No. 1 doubles.

The duo of Austin Blake and Mike Zabetakis (No. 2) as well as Darren Mast and Justin Olexa (No. 3) won their matches by identical 8-3 margins to give the Mountaineers the momentum heading into singles play.

Five out of six singles matches went to the Mount, highlighted by Tonon and Zabetakis picking up their first singles wins of the fall.

Blake came out victorious, 7-5, in the first set of his No. 1 singles match and was leading the second set by a 4-1 score before Pratt retired.

At the No. 2 slot, Salomon took care of business with a 6-3, 6-3 defeat of Michael Lesko. Also picking up straight-set victories on the afternoon were Zabetakis, who saw his first action of the season, and Olexa. Zabetakis had no problem against Steven Lesko with a 6-1, 6-0 win at No. 5, while Olexa was a 7-6, 6-3 winner versus Will Wheatley at No. 6.

After dropping the first set of his No. 4 singles match, Tonon recovered with 6-3, 6-3 wins in the following sets to earn the first singles victory of his young career.

The Mount will look to move to 2-0 with a match at La Salle on Oct. 5 at 11 a.m.

NOTE: The Mount improves to 10-6 in the all-time series with Shepherd.

Doubles
No. 1: Salomon/Tonon (Mount St. Mary's) def. Pratt/Kolumban (Shepherd), 8-4
No. 2: Blake/Zabetakis (Mount St. Mary's) def. Davis/M. Lesko (Shepherd), 8-3
No. 3: Mast/Olexa (Mount St. Mary's) def. S. Lesko/Al Starlings (Shepherd), 8-3

Singles
No. 1: Austin Blake (Mount St. Mary's) def. Chris Pratt (Shepherd), 7-5, 4-1 ret.
No. 2: Peter Salomon (Mount St. Mary's) def. Michael Lesko (Shepherd) 6-3, 6-3
No. 3: Grant Davis (Shepherd) def. Darren Mast (Mount St. Mary's), 2-6, 6-3, 6-4
No. 4: Louis Tonon (Mount St. Mary's) def. Steven Kolumban (Shepherd), 6-7, 6-3, 6-3
No. 5: Mike Zabetakis (Mount St. Mary's) def. Steven Lesko (Shepherd), 6-1, 6-0
No. 6: Justin Olexa (Mount St. Mary's ) def. Will Wheatley (Shepherd), 7-6, 6-3