Men's Tennis
March 11, 2008
BRYANT MEN'S TENNIS SCORES UPSET OF KUTZTOWN
HILTON HEAD ISLAND, SC - The red-hot Bryant University men's tennis team picked up its biggest win of the season Tuesday afternoon with a 5-4 decision over No. 28 Kutztown. Competing in their third match in the last four days, the Bulldogs dug down deep to pull out the win against an excellent Bears team and earn the program's first-ever win against a nationally-ranked team.
Kutztown opened the match winning two of the three doubles matches including a close decision at No. 2 as Arpit Sharma and Robert Zerwick edged Jose Rodriguez and Thomas Nowak, 9-8 (7-5).
But in singles play, junior Rodriguez came through with a critical point at No. 2 singles. In a rematch of last year's ITA championship, Rodriguez muscled his way to a 6-4, 6-3 straight-set win over Sharma to help set the tone for the rest of the team to pull off the upset. Nowak rolled to a 6-0, 6-0 win over Robert Zerwick at No. 4 while Kevin Gardiner cruised 6-0,6 -0 over Peter Isler at No. 5 and Craig Drushella knocked off Gregg Shankle at No. 6.
The Bulldogs will have little time to celebrate as they will return to action against Division III Ithaca Wednesday and close out the week with matches against Northern Kentucky (Thursday) and Bloomsburg (Friday).
Singles competition
1. Lukas Labitsch (KUTZ) def. Cristian Balestrieri
(BRYANT) 7-6 (7-5), 2-6, 1-0 (10-6)
2. Jose Rodriguez (BRYANT) def. Arpit Sharma (KUTZ) 6-4, 6-3
3. Andrew Torrealba (KUTZ) def. Dylan Whiting (BRYANT) 6-3, 1-6,
1-0 (10-8)
4. Thomas Nowak (BRYANT) def. Robert Zerwick (KUTZ) 6-0, 6-0
5. Kevin Gardiner (BRYANT) def. Peter Isler (KUTZ) 6-0, 6-0
6. Craig Drushella (BRYANT) def. Gregg Shankle (KUTZ) 6-2, 6-0
Doubles competition
1. Lukas Labitsch/Andrew Torrealba (KUTZ) def. Cristian
Balestrieri/Kevin Gardiner (BRYANT) 8-2
2. Arpit Sharma/Robert Zerwick (KUTZ) def. Jose Rodriguez/Thomas
Nowak (BRYANT) 9-8 (7-5)
3. Matt Sheppard-Lupo/Dylan Whiting (BRYANT) def. Gregg
Shankle/Peter Isler (KUTZ) 8-0
