MEN'S TENNIS FINISHES UP COMPETITION AT UCONN INVITATIONAL
September 29, 2008
MEN'S TENNIS COMPETES AT UCONN INVITATIONAL
STORRS, CT- The Bryant University men's tennis team traveled to the University of Connecticut over the weekend, taking part in the UConn Invitational tournament on wet weekend in Storrs, Connecticut. Beyond Bryant and UConn, the tournament also included teams from Stony Brook, Fairfield, Quinnipiac, Sacred Hart, Marist, Boston University and Hartford.
Kevin Gardiner (Powder Springs, Ga.) had the big day for the Bulldogs, playing Flight B singles and winning two matches before falling in the semi-finals to Youssef Fassi Fehri from Stony Brook, 6-4. Gardiner won his first two matches by the same 6-4 final over Andrew Marcus from UConn, and Landon Greene from Marist. Since there was limited court space due to the inclement weather, each singles match only played a single set, with the first player to reach six winning the match.
Thomas Nowak (Medfield, Mass.) also competed in Flight B singles, falling in the second round to Jon Epstein from Stony Brook, 6-2. Epstein went on to win the tournament.
Jose Rodriguez (Trujillo, Peru) and Cristian Balistrieri (Mar Del Plata, Argentina) both competed in Flight A singles. Balistrieri fell in the quarterfinals, 6-0, to Shvartz from Stony Brook after winning a second round match in a tiebreaker 6-5. Rodriguez lost in his second round match to Joey Michaels from UConn in a hard fought match that saw Michaels edge Rodriguez 6-5 in a tiebreaker.
In Flight C singles, Andres Orobitg (Guaynabo, Puerto Rico) lost 6-1 in the first round to Dave Adams from UConn, while Dylan Whiting (Florence, Mass.) was defeated, 6-0, in the second round by another UConn player, Scott Warden.
In doubles action, the combination of Nowak and Rodriguez was knocked out in the first round by UConn 8-4 in Flight A. Balistrieri and Gardiner were also eliminated in Flight A, 8-1, in the second round against Quinnipiac.
Whiting and teammate Matt Shephard-Lupo (West Boothbay, Maine) lost a close match to Quinnipiac in Flight B doubles, 8-6, in the first round. Freshman Daniel Cournoyer (Jefferson, Mass.) and Orobitg were knocked off by Uconn 8-2 in the second round.
The Bulldogs will be back on the court on Saturday when they host Hofstra at the Bryant Tennis Complex (11 a.m.).
