Sept. 26, 2009

MERION STATION, Pa. - The Saint Joseph's men's tennis team continued play on Saturday at the inaugural Saint Joseph's Invitational, held this weekend at the SJU Tennis Complex at the Maguire Campus. The highlight of the day was sophomore Kevin Aquino, who reached the finals in Singles Flight 4.

Aquino outlasted Shane Yap of UMBC, 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 in the quarterfinals before taking down teammate Delfin Bernal, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 in the semifinals. Aquino will take on Ben Dashiell of Monmouth in the finals on Sunday. Dashiell defeated a pair of Hawks on his way to the finals, dispatching Kristian Broaddus 6-3, 6-3 in the quarters and Thomas Gates 2-6, 6-4, 7-5 in the semis.

Bernal won his quarterfinal match against Neil Mirchandani of Drexel, 6-4, 6-2, while Gates made quick work of DU's Alex Barnes, winning in straight sets, 6-3, 6-1.

In Flight 2, Alex Veronis fell to Drexel's Manu Bajpal, 7-6 (5), 6-3 in the quarterfinal round. Peter Cognetti was victorious over Monmouth's David Sherwood, 7-6 (7), 7-5 before falling to Penn's Lucas Andreika 6-2, 7-6 (5) in the semifinals.

Michael Stauble lost in the quarterfinals of Flight 3 to Mwali Phiri of UMBC, 6-4, 6-1. Nick Tuxen reached the semifinals with a win over Drexel's Jason Savage-Pollock, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 before falling to UP's Gorkem Yurtseven, 7-5, 6-0.

In top-flight doubles action, Stauble and Matt Prusack dropped a tough 8-6 decision to Fredi Voorman and Allen Tsang of UMBC. Cognetti teamed up with Jeff Kessler to defeat Yurtseven and Dmitry Bury by the same score. They will meet Phiri and Chris Meyer of UMBC in the semifinals tomorrow.

In the second doubles flight, Veronis and Aquino defeated Mirchandani and Alessandro Bozzo, 8-6, while Tuxen and Gates teamed up for a 9-8 (6) victory over Bajpal and Alex Barnes. Losing in the quarters was the duo of Broaddus and Bernal, who fell to Yap and Andreika, 8-4.

Kessler won a pair of matches to move on to the finals of the Singles Flight 1 consolation bracket. He was awarded a victory over Monmouth's Corey Forrest when Forrest retired trailing 5-0 in the first set. Kessler then defeated Maryland's Ian Mansfield, 6-4, 6-3. He will face Nikoloz Kurdadze of Drexel, who defeated Prusack in the consolation bracket quarterfinals, 6-3, 6-3.

Veronis earned a 6-3, 6-1 win over MU's Ian Terpilowski to advance to the finals of Consolation Flight 2. In Flight 4, Broaddus defeated Barnes, 6-1, 6-4, and will face Mirchandani in the final.

The inaugural Saint Joseph's Invitational wraps up on Sunday with final matches in all four singles flights and all four singles consolation flights. The semifinals and finals for both doubles flights and their consolation brackets will be held Sunday afternoon as well.