CAMDEN, N.J. (April 8, 2018) – With brutal spring weather forcing postponements and cancelations throughout its season, the Rutgers University-Camden men's tennis team resorted to a creative approach to get its schedule back on track here Sunday.
 
The Scarlet Raptors played a tennis tripleheader and won their last two matches for their first victories of the season.
 
Rutgers-Camden played a regularly-scheduled morning match against Penn State-Abington before opening its Great Northeast Athletic Conference schedule against Albertus Magnus College in the afternoon. With both the Scarlet Raptors and the Falcons needing matches, they decided to play another match – which didn't count in the GNAC standings – after their conference match was concluded. They played a similar doubleheader last year when Rutgers-Camden visited Albertus Magnus up in New Haven, Connecticut.
 
Rutgers-Camden, which entered the day with a 0-4 record and hadn't played a match since March 24, dropped its first match against Penn State-Abington, 7-2, before winning twice over Albertus Magnus, 7-2 and 5-1. The last match was only played until a winner was determined, leaving three singles matches unfinished while ending the long, cold day of tennis for the Raptors.
 
Rutgers-Camden, 2-5 overall and 1-0 in the GNAC, returns to action on Sunday, April 15, when it hosts Rutgers-Newark in a 12 p.m. GNAC match.
   
The Nittany Lions raised their record to 2-4, sweeping all of the doubles matches and winning all the singles except the fourth and sixth flights. The lone Scarlet Raptor wins came at fourth singles behind freshman Shariq Khan (Atlantic City, NJ/Atlantic City), with a 6-3, 6-2 victory, and sixth singles in a 6-3, 4-6, 10-6 win for senior Juan Eduardo Perez (Bridgeton, NJ/Bridgeton).
 
Senior captain Jake Collette-Nippins (Somerdale, NJ/Sterling) dropped a 6-0, 6-0 decision at first singles and freshman Jose Vargas (South Bound Brook, NJ/Bound Brook) lost 6-4, 6-3 at second singles. Freshman Matt Deak (South Brunswick, NJ/South Brunswick) dropped a 7-6 (7-5), 4-6, 8-10 decision at third doubles and junior Vatsal Patel (Runnemede, NJ/Triton Regional) lost at fifth singles, 6-2, 6-3.
 
The Raptors lost 8-2 at first doubles (Vargas/Vatsal Patel), 8-3 at second doubles (Collette-Nippins/Deak) and 8-3 at third doubles (Khan/Perez).
   
The Scarlet Raptors notched their first win of the season against Albertus Magnus, and it came at a great time as they opened their GNAC schedule with a victory.
 
Collette-Nippins, the only returning letterman for the team, earned his first singles win since moving to the top spot this season, posting a 6-1, 6-2 victory. Vargas lost at second singles, 1-6, 7-5, 1-10, but the Scarlet Raptors won the next three singles matches in 6-0, 6-0 sweeps behind Deak at the third flight, Khan at the fourth singles and Vatsal Patel at the fifth spot. Perez posted a 6-3, 6-3 win at sixth singles.
 
In doubles competition, Vargas and Vatsal Patel won, 8-2, at the first spot, while Collette-Nippins and Deak posted an 8-1 victory at second doubles. At third doubles, junior Daehan Bong (Cherry Hill, NJ/Cherry Hill East) and sophomore Parth Patel (Camden, NJ/Anandalaya, India) dropped an 8-1 match.
   
The Scarlet Raptors finished their day with an abbreviated match, which was clinched when Vatsal Patel posted an 8-0 victory at fifth singles. The Raptors also got wins at first singles from Collette-Nippins (8-1) and third singles from Deak (8-0). The second, fourth and sixth singles were left unfinished after Rutgers-Camden clinched the victory.
 
In doubles, Collette-Nippins and Deak won 6-1 at the first spot and Vatsal Patel and Khan posted a 6-1 victory at second doubles. Parth Patel and Bong lost 6-1 at the third spot.
 
For the day, Collette-Nippins, pictured above, Deak and Vatsal Patel all went a combined 4-2 between singles and doubles play, while Khan was 3-1.
 
For the season, Deak (at third singles) and Vatsal Patel (at fourth and fifth singles) own the best solo marks, with each going 4-3. Khan has gone 2-1 in doubles (1-0 second, 1-1 third), while Vatsal Patel, Collette-Nippins and Deak all own 2-5 marks in doubles.
 
Box score 1
 
Box score 2
 
Box score 3