The College of Staten Island men’s tennis team took a positive first step towards a CUNYAC Championship today, scoring a 5-0 win over visiting John Jay College as part of quarterfinal round play at the CSI Tennis Center. The win moved CSI to 10-5 overall and into a showdown on Sunday against No. 2 Hunter College in semifinal play. Hunter received a first-round bye. John Jay’s season is over at 2-14.
Unlike regular season play, once a team reaches the fifth and clinching point play is suspended, thus the abridged score today. In the four remaining matches, CSI was leading in all but one flight.
Prior to opening the match the Dolphins paid tribute to lone senior Chris Pinto, and CSI used it to fuel a great showing in Doubles play. Right ou f the gate, Pinto and teammate Raymond Hwang were exceptional in an 8-0 win over Jowel Ahmed and Mark Barkagen. One flight lower, the CSI duo of Mitchel Voloshin and Mikhiddin Nuriddinov were just an potent as they were near flawless in an 8-0 win as well.
Things were a little different at No. 1 Doubles, where CSI team of Andrew Adia and Matt Vesci locked up with JJC’s Matteo Rubino and Oheh Mir. The two sides traded shots until they finished 8-8. Finally in the deciding tie-break, CSI prevailed 7-3, giving them the 9-8 win and the commanding 3-0 lead overall.
That then introduced singles play and CSI continued to roll. At No. 2, senior Pinto again looked overpowering, as he struck down Mir, 6-2, 6-1 to make it 4-0 and then Adia provided the other singles win in 6-0, 6-0, fashion over Kevin LaTorre. That halted the game.
At the time of the stoppage, Raymond Hwang (No.4), Alex Tsui (No. 5), and Muriddinov (No. 6) all had leads. Meanwhile JJC’s lone bright spot was a 7-6 (7-4) win in the first set by Rubino over Vesci in the opening set.
The win will launch CSi to the Semifinals on Sunday against Hunter College. The Hawks won the regular season meeting, 6-3. Match time is set for 2:30pm.
