Staten Island, NY | The College of Staten Island men’s tennis team hosted a rare doubleheader and it served as closure to the 2018 regular season. On an afternoon when the Dolphins would celebrate their two seniors, CSI pulled away convincingly over Rutgers-Camden, 9-0, before taking a thin, 5-4, victory over FDU-Florham in their afternoon tilt. CSI closed out the season with a record of 9-4 going into the postseason. RU-Camden fell to 2-8 after today, and FDU-Florham fell to 13-3 overall.
Match 1 – Staten Island 9, Rutgers-Camden 0
Prior to first service the Dolphins honored their two four-year seniors in Andrew Adia and Mitchel Voloshin, and they helped CSI take center stage in the big victory to start the morning. Play began with doubles and CSI shined. Courts one and three saw the Dolphins win going away. In the pole position, the duo of Adia and Alex Tsui kept their personal hot streaks alive with an 8-1 win over Jose Vargas and Vatsal Patel. Tao Lin and Matthew Kotlyar were equally dynamic in the No. 3 Doubles place, winning by the same count against Parth Patel and Juan Eduardo Perez.
The team of Matthew Vesci and Voloshin had a more difficult go in the middle flight. Against Jake Collette-Nippins and Matt Deak, the two teams powered back-and-forth until CSI took control and went up by two points. It would prove to be the difference as the Dolphins would ultimately win the set, 8-6, giving them a clean sweep in doubles and plenty of momentum heading into singles play.
Once singles got started it was all CSI from start to finish. Both David Luo at No. 4 and Lesly DeCastro at No. 6, both of which did not play doubles, scored identical 6-0, 6-0, wins in their singles sets to set the tone. Vesci defeated Vargas at No. 2, 6-0, 6-1, and Adia was on cruise control with a 6-1, 6-0 victory in the No. 3 spot over Deak. In the top spot, Raymond Hwang was a 6-1, 6-1, victor over Collette-Nippins and the senior Voloshin finished things off with a solid, 6-1, 6-1, win in the No. 5 slot to close out the straight set win over the Scarlet Raptors.
Match 2 – Staten Island 5, FDU-Florham 4
It what may be classified as their most impressive victory of the season, the Dolphins used their momentum against the Raptors into a few more hours of tennis against the visiting Devils, ending the team’s seven-game winning streak coming in. The No. 3 Doubles team of David Luo and Tao Lin were very strong, defeating a previously unbeaten duo of Steven Serras and Brendon Urbano, 8-2. One step up the ladder, the team of Adia and Tsui were victorious yet again, defeating FDU’s best doubles team of the season in Chris Fiorenza and Chris Ly by an 8-3 count. CSI had their chances to actually sweep doubles, but FDU scored a very important point when Max Moscowitz and Kevin Weller were able to pull ahead late en route to an 8-6 winner over CSI’s Raymond Hwang and Matthew Vesci.
That moved play into singles were the action was heated. CSI took commanding control when Luo scored a 6-1, 6-1, win over Serras in the No. 4 spot, and one step down, Tsui completed his perfect day with a 6-0, 6-2, cruise over Tyler Schacher. Fiorenza was able to pull FDU closer in the No. 6 spot, as he was locked in a battle but was finally able to pull away from Voloshin, 7-6 (7-4), 6-3. But then came Vesci in the No. 2 spot, and he finalized a great day of tennis with a hard-fought, 6-0, 6-4, win over Weller to clinch the match for CSI.
FDU was able to win the remaining sets but not without a heavy fight. Moscowitz took a 3-6, 6-0, 10-5, win over Hwang at the top spot, and it took three sets for Ly to get past Adia in the No. 3 position, 6-4, 3-6, 10-7.
CSI has now finished the regular season winners of four-straight and eight of their last nine, their only loss to NCAA Division I Wagner College. At 4-2 within the CUNYAC, they have earned the No. 3 seed in the six-team CUNYAC Tournament, and they will face No. 6 John Jay College on Friday, April 27, wen the draw is officially announced. Match time is tentatively scheduled for 3pm.
