Sept. 25, 2010

MERION STATION, Pa. - Play continued on Saturday in the second annual Saint Joseph's Men's Tennis Invitational on Saturday as singles competition got underway at the SJU Tennis Complex at Maguire and on Finnesey Courts. Sophomore Alex Veronis reached the semifinals in the top singles flight while freshman Dan Barrus is into the semifinals in the third flight.

Veronis was a 6-0, 6-2 winner over Harveer Bhalla of Monmouth in the first round before dropping Doug Gallagher of Lafayette, 6-4, 4-6, 10-2, in the quarterfinals.

Also in the top flight, junior Paul Ganev fell in the first round, 6-1, 6-1, to Penn's Zach Katz.

In the second singles flight, juniors Peter Cognetti and Tommy Gates fell in straight sets in the first round. Cognetti lost to Scott Gelbman of Lafayette, 6-1, 7-5, while Gates went down to David Sherwood of Monmouth, 6-4, 6-2. Gates moved on to the semifinals of the consolation draw after a 6-4, 7-6 (3) win over Dan Shaffer of Army. Cognetti fell to Ian Terpilowski of Monmouth, 6-4, 6-2, in his consolation match.

Barrus dispatched Skyler Davis of Drexel, 3-6, 6-3, 10-4 and Rafael Santiago of Villanova, 4-6, 7-5, 10-0 to reach the semifinals in singles flight number three.

Freshman Paranjay Malhotra won his first round match in the fourth flight, 7-6, 6-3, 10-1 over Lafayette's Andrew Morris, before falling to Jason Derene of Delaware, 6-0, 6-2, in the quarterfinals. Freshman Joey Robinson fell to Army's Josh Cook, 7-6 (4), 6-1, in the first round of the fourth flight before dropping a 6-2, 6-2 result to Nick Piacente of Delaware.

In the main doubles draw, Gates and Malhotra fell to Gallagher and Kyle MacLelland of Lafayette, 8-3, in the second flight semifinals.

Cognetti and Jeff Kessler advanced to the final of the first doubles flight consolation draw via a walkover, where they will meet Veronis and Ganev, who were 8-3 winners over Santiago and Ryan Peyton of Villanova.

Play concludes on Sunday, with singles semifinals starting at 9:00 a.m.