Sept. 24, 2011
MERION STATION, Pa. -
The second day of play at the third annual SJU Men's Tennis Invitational saw a number of Hawks on the courts, with some impressive showings by the squad's group of rookies.
Two singles flights originally scheduled to be played at Swarthmore College were moved back to Hawk Hill due to inclement weather; as such, court availability and darkness forced play to be stopped before any doubles matches were contested. However, all four singles flights played down to the quarterfinals.
In the top flight, senior Jeff Kessler was a 7-5, 7-6 (5) winner over Francis Jedlinski of Monmouth. He moves on to face Andre Vorobyov of Delaware on Sunday morning. In another SJU-Delaware quarterfinal tilt, Tommy Gates will take on Troy Beneck; Gates moved past Army's Andrew Clark in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3.
Sophomore Dan Barrus fell in his second-flight match, dropping a 6-3, 6-4 result to Michael Rosengren of Villanova. Erik Thunberg bowed out in the Round of 16 as well, falling to Temple's Mansur Gishkaev, 6-1, 7-5.
The third flight was a mixed bag for the Crimson and Gray as senior Peter Cognetti lost to Hofstra's Matthew Gemmell, 6-4, 7-5 and junior Kristian Broaddus capitulated to Darius Frick of Drexel, 6-4, 6-4, but freshman Max Montague was a 7-5, 6-2 winner over Dale Fetterman from La Salle. Montague will face James Oliver of Lafayette in the quarterfinals.
Some young Hawks were able to shine in the fourth flight as three SJU players made their way to the final eight. Sophomore Paranjay Malhotra dispatched Chris Cua of Villanova, 6-4, 7-5 while freshman Devin Bostick made quick work of La Salle's Andrew O'Connell, advancing with a 6-1, 6-3 victory. Fellow first-year Jason Sisti dropped the first set of his match against Temple's Stanislav Stekolshikov, but rallied for a 4-6, 7-6 (9), 12-10 win.
In the lone defeat for Saint Joseph's, freshman Sean Rojo fell to Ian LeBlanc of Delaware, 6-3, 7-5.
Malhotra is slated to take on Evan Andrews of Delaware while Bostick and Sisti will face off with Drexel's Paul Stauskas and Daniel Hansen, respectively.
Play is scheduled to resume at 9:00 a.m. on Sunday. All matches will be played at Saint Joseph's.
