Harford Men’s Tennis Finishes Day Two of Competition at NJCAA Nationals; Two Matches Slated for Wednesday

From the HCC sports desk:

PLANO, Texas—The Harford men’s tennis team was winless on the second day of competition at the 2010 NJCAA Division-III Men’s Tennis National Tournament, but will see action in the consolation draw of Flight 2 and Flight 3 doubles on Wednesday. Harford is currently in 11th place with two points.

Freshman Cory Litka (York, Pa./Aberdeen/East Stroudsburg) had the longest day for the Fighting Owls, beginning with an 8:00 a.m. (CT)/9:00 a.m. (ET) Flight 1 singles match, which he dropped to Broome’s Jordan Smith, 6-4, 6-2. Immediately following the singles loss, Litka teamed with sophomore Josh Meier (Belcamp, Md./Home School) to play in an 11:30 a.m. (CT)/12:30 p.m. (ET) Flight 1 doubles match. The Harford duo fell to the No. 2 seeded team of Alex Cavanagh and Tim Steere from Rhode Island, 6-2, 6-3, but Litka’s marathon day continued with a 1:00 p.m. (CT)/2:00 p.m. (ET) consolation draw match where he faced Cavanagh again, this time on the Flight 1 singles stage. Cavanagh earned the 6-3, 7-5 win to eliminate Litka from both the draw and the tournament.

Meier and freshman Marc Donars (Joppa, Md./Harford Tech) each saw their respective singles consolation matches go to third-set tiebreakers, but both eventually fell as they were eliminated from their respective brackets. Meier dropped his first set, 6-3, but rebounded with a 6-4 win over Uladzimir Ryzhko in the second set of their Flight 2 singles consolation draw match to force a third-set tiebreaker, which Ryzhko narrowly claimed, 12-10.

Donars had much the same result, falling to Rock Valley’s Derek Wells, 6-2 in the first set of their Flight 4 singles consolation draw match, but answering with a 6-3 win in the second set. Wells earned the third-set tiebreaker win with a 10-8 decision over Donars. Donars will also team with sophomore Steve Heagy () for a consolation Flight 2 doubles match against Rock Valley’s Brian Dickinson and Andy Wright, while freshman Walker Bazemore (Churchville, Md./C. Milton Wright) and sophomore Ben Wade (Joppatowne, Md./Joppatowne) will face Broome’s Craig Hebbard and Gerald Terela in the consolation draw of Flight 3 doubles. Both matches are slated for a 1:00 p.m. (CT)/2:00 p.m. (ET) start.