(Posted April 16, 2009)

SELINSGROVE, Pa. -- Juniata College opened with a sweep of all three doubles matches and proceeded to defeat Susquehanna University, 7-2, in Landmark Conference men's tennis action Thursday in Selinsgrove, Pa.

The win was the fifth straight win for Juniata (10-5, 3-2 Landmark), who move into fourth place in the Landmark Conference standings. A victory over Merchant Marine on Saturday, or a Mariner loss in one of its three remaining matches, would allow Juniata to clinch a berth in the Landmark Conference Men's Tennis Tournament.

Jarrad Silver (Bethesda, Md./Walt Whitman) and Arnab Chakrabarti (Alpharetta, Ga./Alpharetta) opened play with an 8-1 win at no. 1 doubles over the Crusaders' William Mellor and Matthew Quadrini.

Juniata's Jonathan Skoner (Pittsburgh, Pa./Central Catholic) and Aaron Rhodes (Huntingdon, Pa./Huntingdon Area) continued the success with an 8-0 victory over Alec Green and Grant Uber, and Ryan Navarro (Altoona, Pa./Bishop Guilfoyle) and Casey Chew (Phoenixville, Pa./Phoenixville) bounced Susquehanna's Cory Prescott and Kirk McAuliffe with an 8-6 decision at no. 3 doubles.

Skoner and Silver took their no. 1 and no. 2 singles matches respectively, both in straight sets. Chakrabarti required the super tiebreaker to complete a 6-2, 3-6, 10-8 victory over Uber at no. 4 singles, while Rhodes notched a 6-3, 6-2 win over SU's Prescott at no. 5 singles.

Susquehanna's Andrew Symonette recorded a 7-5, 6-3 win at no. 6 singles over Chew, while Green edged Navarro, 6-4, 1-6, 10-3 at no. 3 singles, to pick up the Crusaders' only two home court wins of the afternoon.

The Juniata women's team will face Susquehanna on Friday afternoon, before the Eagle men's team hosts Merchant Marine on Saturday on the Raffensperger Tennis Courts.

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Contact April Feagley at feaglea@juniata.edu or (814) 641-3131 for more information.