April 10, 2011

PITTSBURGH, Pa. - The Saint Joseph's men's tennis team split a pair of matches against conference foes this weekend, dropping Dayton, 6-1, before falling to Duquesne, 7-0, in matches played on Duquesne's campus.

On Saturday, the Hawks swept the doubles flights and Peter Cognetti's gutty three-set victory propelled SJU to a 6-1 win over the Flyers.

Cognetti paired with Jeff Kessler for a convincing 8-1 victory in the top flight before Alex Veronis and Dan Barrus went one better, shutting out their second flight opponents 8-0. Tommy Gates and Kristian Broaddus finished the Hawks doubles sweep with an 8-4 win at number three.

In singles play, Veronis and Gates were winners in the first and third flights before Cognetti played three sets, including a pair of tiebreakers, in defeating Dayton's Sam Pecyna in the fourth flight to clinch the win.

Barrus and Broaddus were straight-sets winners in the fifth and sixth flights, respectively.

On Sunday, a strong Duquesne squad defeated the Hawks, 7-0. Veronis and Barrus were able to win their second flight doubles matchup, taking an 8-5 result, but the Dukes secured the point with wins in the first and third flights.

Gates dropped the first set of his third singles match before rallying to win the second in a tiebreaker, but DU's Mikhael Rasner took the third set, 6-3, to earn the point for the Dukes.

Saint Joseph's has one more regular season matchup, a Tuesday tilt with Villanova, before heading to the Atlantic 10 Championships in St. Louis, Missouri, this weekend.

Saint Joseph's 6, Dayton 1

Doubles
1. Peter Cognetti / Jeff Kessler (SJU) def. Benton Benalcazar / Andrew Hanley (UD), 8-1
2. Dan Barrus / Alex Veronis (SJU) def. Philip Dresden / Robert Salcedo (UD), 8-0
3. Kristian Broaddus / Tommy Gates (SJU) def. Sean Bandy / Sam Pecyna (UD), 8-4

Singles
1. Veronis (SJU) def. Salcedo (UD), 6-4, 6-3
2. Hanley (UD) def. Kessler (SJU), 6-1, 7-6 (4)
3. Gates (SJU) def. Benalcazar (UD), 6-3, 6-7 (7), 6-3
4. Cognetti (SJU) def. Pecyna (UD), 7-6 (4), 6-7 (5), 6-2
5. Barrus (SJU) def. Bandy (UD), 6-1, 6-2
6. Broaddus (SJU) def. Dresden (UD), 6-2, 6-2

Duquesne 7, Saint Joseph's 0

Doubles
1. Steve Herchko / Max Rubin (DUQ) def. Cognetti / Kessler (SJU), 8-1
2. Barrus / Veronis (SJU) def. Aram Abgaryan / Mikhael Rasner (DUQ), 8-5
3. Pete Carpenter / Kyle O'Leary (DUQ) def. Broaddus / Gates (SJU), 8-4

Singles
1. Abgaryan (DUQ) def. Veronis (SJU), 6-4, 6-3
2. Carpenter (DUQ) def. Kessler (SJU), 6-1, 6-1
3. Rasner (DUQ) def. Gates (SJU), 6-1, 6-7 (5), 6-3
4. Rubin (DUQ) def. Cognetti (SJU), 6-3, 6-1
5. Herchko (DUQ) def. Barrus (SJU), 6-4, 6-4
6. O'Leary (DUQ) def. Broaddus (SJU), 6-3, 6-4