Men’s tennis overcomes injury

An injured Hurricane men’s tennis team refused to be stopped by unranked Dartmouth, defeating the Ivy League school 5-2 Friday.
The ‘Canes won the match despite being without No. 1 singles player Todd Widom, who sat out after being hospitalized for an unknown viral infection in his throat.
Sophomore Zachary Hood and freshman Tim Krebs returned on Friday after being unable to play for months.
The Hurricanes struggled early on in doubles play, losing two of the three matches. However, when the singles matches began, the momentum swung in the direction of the Hurricanes, who won five of six matches to earn the victory.
“As a team they played well, sub-par in doubles, but they came back in singles and got a win,” assistant coach Ari Widlansky said.
In a fast paced match, UM senior Andrew Golub and freshman Colin Purcell defeated Neal Bobba and Drew Dinkmeyer 8-4 in No. 1 doubles. Hood and freshman Shauny Hoyes lost to David Webb and Andre Reyes 8-0.
Despite the loss, Hood was satisfied just to return to the court.
“There were no expectations,” Hood said. “I just went out to see what I could do.”
The third doubles team also suffered a loss as Jesse Daer and Borko Kereshi defeated junior Luis Manrique and freshman Eric Hecthman.
In No. 1 singles Golub beat Bobba in straight sets, 6-2 6-0 while Hecthman defeated Webb 6-3, 6-4 in No. 2 singles.
No. 3 Luis Manrique had a closer match with Drew Dinkmeyer. After winning the first set 6-2, Dinkmeyer came back and won the second set 6-1. But Manrique was able to hold off Dinkmeyer in the third set to win 6-4 and take the match.
Purcell, the fourth ranked singles player, defeated Kereshi in straight sets.
Hoyes had an easier match by only giving up two games in defeating Andre Reyes 6-2, 6-0.
The final singles match resulted in Miami’s only loss as Krebs had to retire in the third set.
The Hurricanes were scheduled to take on No. 33 Tennessee at the Neil Schiff Tennis Center, but that event became one of several canceled at the University due to heavy rains.
The stretch without Widom will likely continue through Sunday’s match against Notre Dame, but Golub isn’t worried about overcoming adversity.
“We are 3-0 without Todd Widom,” Golub said. “We have a chance but we need to step it up.”