Men's Tennis
Two Players lost, eight more gained:
Bryant's 2007 fall season saw the loss of the two senior captains, Ben Caisse (Number 5 Singles) and Zach Goodman (Number 3 Singles). It also saw the entrance of 8 new players to the team. Three of the new 8 are featured in the top 6 singles lineup; Tom Nowak (Transfer Sophomore, number 4 singles), Jose Rodriguez (Transfer Junior, number 3 singles), and Christian Balestrieri (Freshmen, number 1 singles).
Salve Regina Grass Court Tournament:
September 8th
Three doubles teams were entered into the three draws consisting of 9 competing schools; Flight A (Kevin Gardiner and Jose Rodriguez), Flight B (Dylan Whiting and Tom Nowak), and Flight C (Craig Drushella, Matthew Shephard-Lupo, and Kevin Levinson shared this flight). Bryant reached the semi-finals in flight B losing to Stonehill. In flights A and C, Bryant reached the finals losing to Salve Regina in both flights. Bryant University also achieved second place in overall points behind Salve Regina.
The Bryant Invitational:
September 23rd
Three schools competed in the tournament; Bryant University, Rhode Island College, and Roger Williams University. Bryant University took an impressive 2 out of the 3 doubles flights as well as winning every singles flight.
URI:
September 26th
After last year's 5-4 victory over URI, it was clear they were out for revenge. The URI team was much improved and served a 6-1 victory at their home courts. Their only loss came at number 1 singles where freshman Christian Balestrieri defeated Henrik Almstrom.
1 Singles: Christian Balestrieri (BRY) def. Henrik Almstrom, 6-1, 4-6, 7-5
2 Singles: Jared Dorfman (URI) def. Dylan Whiting, 7-6 (8-6), 6-3
3 Singles: Jeff Cote (URI) def. Jose Rodriguez, 7-6 (11-9), 6-2
4 Singles: Andrew Costin (URI) def. Tom Nowak, 3-6, 6-4, 6-0
5 Singles: Adam Gart (URI) def. Kevin Gardiner, 6-1, 6-0
6 Singles: AJ Nelson (URI) def. Craig Drushella, 6-2, 6-3
1 Doubles: Dorfman/Cote (URI) def. Rodriguez/Balestrieri, 8-6
2 Doubles: Costin/Simmons (URI) def. Whiting/Nowak, 8-5
3 Doubles: Gart/Mcguire (URI) def. Shephard-Lupo/Gardiner, 8-4
URI takes the D1 point for all three doubles securing their 6-1 victory.
TEAM AND INDIVIDUAL ACCOLADES
Jose Rodridguez captured the ITA East Regional B Draw Championship title in early October, becoming the first champion since Hall of Famer Roman Pavlick. Dylan Whiting earned Northeast-10 Conference Player of the Week Honors the following week while freshman teammate Cristian Balestrieri was twice named NE-10 Conference Freshman of the Week this fall. Also this fall, tri-captains were named: Craig Drushella, Kevin Levinson, and Michael Pickowicz.
See you in the Spring. Go Bulldogs !




