BRONX, N.Y. (April 26, 2024) – The Rutgers University-Camden men's tennis program added one final match for the last week of the season and that match turned out to be of historical significance.
 
Rutgers-Camden defeated Lehman in the non-conference match here Friday, 8-1, handing the Raptors their first win of the season and snapping a 30-match losing streak, dating back to 2019.
 
The Scarlet Raptors' last victory had been on April 27, 2019, with a 7-2 win at Penn State-Abington in the last match of the season. There wasn't any season during the Covid 2019-20 scholastic year, but the team was 0-4 in 2020-21, 0-5 in 2021-22, 0-12 last year and entered Friday's match with an 0-9 record.
 
The win helped Rutgers-Camden close the season at 1-9, while Lehman dropped to 1-10.
 
The Scarlet Raptors swept all three doubles matches, with senior Edward McWilliams Jr. and freshman John Brady winning at the top spot, 8-7 (7-5). In the second doubles spot, sophomores Thanh Ngo and Cherif Kanoute posted an 8-5 win, while sophomore Christopher Abacan combined with junior Matthew Tepfer for an 8-1 win at third doubles.
 
McWilliams won his match at first singles, 7-5, 6-3, while Ngo won at second singles, 6-1, 6-2. Brady and Abacan both posted 6-1, 6-1 wins at the third and fourth singles spots, respectively, while Tepfer earned an 8-6 win at sixth singles.
 
The Raptors' lone loss on the day came at fifth singles, at Kanoute dropped a 6-2, 6-1 decision. Kanoute, a star on the men's basketball program and first-year tennis player, just joined the tennis team in time for his first match on April 12. Friday's Lehman match was only his second match.