After a 19-day lay-off, the College of Staten Island men’s tennis squad got back on the courts today, surviving the cold to score their first win of the season, a 9-0 shutout of St. Joseph’s College in Patchogue, NY. The Dolphins improved to 1-2 on the young season, while the Golden Eagles fell to a season-opening 0-1.
The Dolphins got off a sensational start in Doubles. In the No. 3 position, the duo of Raymond Hwang and Akaki Dundua were able to score a lop-sided 8-1 win, and one peg up, CSI’s team of Alex Tsui and Tao Lin scored an 8-3 winner over SJC’s Tyler Yaskanich and Matt Dioguardo. In the most heated set, the top-tiered teams squared off and after going back-and-forth CSI broke service and the team of Andrew Adia and Matt Vesci outlasted SJC’s Kevin Lankowicz and Peter Rasmussen.
The Dolphins got off to the big lead and then clinched it with big wins in four other flights while grinding out third-set wins in the others.
In the No. 2 position Vesci was a 6-2, 6-1, winner over Rasmussen, and CSI’s Mukhiddin Nuriddinov at No. 3 and Lin at No. 6 both won their flights, 6-2, 6-1. In the top spot, Adia lost his first set to Lankowicz, 6-2, but stayed the course to score a 6-3 win in the second set forcing a 10-point tiebreak. There, Adia cruised to a 10-2 win to get his first Singles win of the year. At No. 4, Tsui won his first set over Yaskanich, 6-1, but Yaskanich was fierce in the second before Tsui scored a 7-6 win. Finally, in the No. 5 position, Mitchel Voloshin secured a 6-1, 3-6, 10-2 win over SJC’s Avery Gomez.
Although the elements proved powerful, the Dolphins were able to overcome, and will look to keep the positive momentum going when they host Oneonta State on Saturday afternoon at 1pm at the CSI Tennis Center, weather permitting.
