WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J. – The Fairleigh Dickinson men's tennis team battled from behind against a tough Monmouth team and came out on top in many close matches to win 5-2 on the road Wednesday night.
 
The Knights (4-4) dropped the doubles point and the first singles point as well before going on to win each of the last five singles decisions to earn the victory. Four of the singles matches and two of the doubles bouts involved a tiebreaker, with FDU winning in all four singles tiebreakers against a Monmouth team that last season went 18-2 to win the MAAC and qualify for the NCAA Tournament.

After the Hawks (4-3) won the first two doubles matches to clinch the point, they also won the first singles match at the no. 5 position to go up 2-0. FDU junior Andris Gudins picked up his team's first singles point at the no. 3 spot, winning his match in straight sets, 6-3, 6-3, over Will Cooke Wharton.
 
The Knights then tied the match score when junior Youssef Sader overcame a tough battle from Arthur Dussaubat, winning the first set 6-3 before persevering in a tough tiebreaker with a 7-6 (5) victory.
 
FDU's top two singles players then sealed the win for the Knights. At the no. 2 position, sophomore Mehdi Dhouib defeated Charles Gortzounian in a 6-2, 7-6 (2) match that made it 3-2 in favor of the Knights.
 
Freshman Teodors Pukse then continued his singles winning streak by edging out the top Monmouth singles player, Max Benaim, in a 6-3, 7-6 (5) battle that saw both players going back and forth in the second-set tiebreaker before Pukse gained the edge and the match-sealing win. Pukse is now 8-0 to start his singles dual match career at FDU, all at the no. 1 position, and he is 16-5 overall in singles including fall tournament matches.
 
Senior Ivan Solans Diaz then finished out the match at the fourth singles spot against Gabriel Busato, winning his first set 6-4 before falling in the second, 2-6, to set up a tiebreaker. The FDU senior then grinded out the win in the tiebreak with a 7-6 (5) defeat of his opponent.
 
The first and third doubles matches both went to a tiebreaker, and with Monmouth already having won the second doubles match, the FDU duo of Dhouib and redshirt sophomore Niclas Pietsch could not hold off their adversaries in a very close 6-7 (6) battle that ended the doubles point.
 
The Knights pairing of Solans Diaz and junior Moric Budinszky were leading their tiebreaker against Sasha Pachnev and Christof Zeiler by a 4-3 score when doubles play was stopped, as the teams played the doubles point to clinch.
 
FDU returns to Northeast Conference play next weekend, traveling to Rhode Island to face both Merrimack and defending conference champion Bryant on March 6-7.
 
BOX SCORE
 
DOUBLES
Charles Gortzounian/Sergio Martinez (MON) def. Mehdi Dhouib/Niclas Pietsch (FDU), 7-6 (6)
Will Cooke Wharton/Gabriel Busato (MON) def. Teodors Pukse/Andris Gudins (FDU), 6-2
Ivan Solans Diaz/Moric Budinszky (FDU) vs. Sasha Pachnev/Christof Zeiler (MON), 6-6 (4-3), unfinished
 
SINGLES
Pukse (FDU) def. Max Benaim (MON), 6-3, 7-6 (5)
Dhouib (FDU) def. Gortzounian (MON), 6-2, 7-6 (2)
Gudins (FDU) def. Cooke Wharton (MON), 6-3, 6-3
Solans Diaz (FDU) def. Busato (MON), 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (5)
Martinez (MON) def. Budinszky (FDU), 6-1, 6-1
Youssef Sader (FDU) def. Arthur Dussaubat (MON), 6-3, 7-6 (5)