Men's Tennis Rolls into A-10 Quarterfinals with 4-1 Win

ORLANDO, Fla. – Despite an early deficit, the seventh-seeded Saint Joseph's men's tennis team cruised past 10th-seeded St. Bonaventure, 4-1, in the first round of the 2017 Atlantic 10 Men's Tennis Championship on a scorching hot Thursday afternoon.

With the win, the Hawks will meet second-seeded George Washington in the quarterfinals on Friday.

St. Bonaventure took the early lead via the doubles point, claiming victories in the second and third flights. Senior Kyle Chalmers and sophomore Tim Stierle rolled to a 6-1 win in the first flight, but the Bonnies rallied for 6-4 wins in the others to steal the doubles point.

"A timid start to the A-10 Championship by freshmen Scott Battaglia and Beekman Schaeffer along with Peter Dewitt and Dan Tan cost the doubles point after a strong, quick decision at the number one spot by Kyle and Tim, but the singles play quickly put things back in our favor," head coach Ian Crookenden said.

Saint Joseph's seized control of the match early in singles play, as Dewitt blitzed past Hristo Hristov at love in the sixth flight before sophomore Andre Fick and freshman Beekman Schaeffer took identical 6-1, 6-2 wins in the third and fourth flights, respectively.

Senior Tristan Boustany finished off the win for the Hawks with a 7-6, 6-0 win over John Rutkowski in the fifth flight. Chalmers and Stierle both led their singles matches as well when play was stopped.

"Peter scored a decisive 6-0, 6-0 win at the anchor spot followed almost immediately by Andre scoring at number three," Crookenden said. "Beekman bounced back from his doubles disappointment and put the Hawks up 3-1 before Tristan closed out the victory in his number five position.

"It will be a different start tomorrow as we face a strong, favored opponent in George Washington, but with nothing to lose I expect a good fight in all matches now that we have our first match successfully out of the way."

Friday's quarterfinal tilt is scheduled to begin at 4:00 p.m. Live streaming and live scoring are available at USTANationalCampus.com.

Saint Joseph's 4, St. Bonaventure 1

Doubles

1. Kyle Chalmers / Tim Stierle (SJU) def. Lukas Linden Malmberg / Indra Patwardhan (SBU), 6-1

2. Guillermo Garcia / John Rutkowski (SBU) def. Scott Battaglia / Beekman Schaeffer (SJU), 6-4

3. Hristo Hristov / Hector Martinez (SBU) def. Peter Dewitt / Dan Tan (SJU), 6-4

Order of Finish: 1, 3, 2

Singles

1. Stierle (SJU) led Martinez (SBU), 6-4, 5-2

2. Chalmers (SU) led Patwardhan (SBU), 7-5, 3-3

3. Andre Fick (SJU) def. Linden Malmberg, 6-1, 6-2

4. Schaeffer (SJU) def. Garcia (SBU), 6-1, 6-2