Brooklyn, NY | The College of Staten Island men’s tennis team stayed hot and undefeated in CUNYAC in the process as they slipped past Brooklyn College by a 6-3 count as part of conference play on Brooklyn’s Roosevelt Courts. The Dolphins improved to 4-1 overall and 2-0 in the CUNYAC, while the Bulldogs fell to 2-5, 1-1, respectively.
Despite the final score being tilted in CSI’s favor, today’s meet was hotly-contested from start to finish. Beginning in Doubles play, CSI got on the board first with an 8-4 win by the No. 3 team of Raymond Hwang and Lesly DeCastro over BC’s team of Samuel Meyerovich and Julian Calame-Mars.
In the second spot, however, Brooklyn would get even, as the pair of Rohan Mathur and Remi Lawrence were locked in a back-and-forth affair with CSI’s Matthew Vesci and Tao Lin. The two sides would be together the entire way until a 7-7 tie would result in an 8-point tie-break to decide a winner. There, the Brooklyn duo got off to a hot start and were able to take an 8-3 win to knot the score at 1-1.
Around that same time, things were drawing to a close in the No. 1 Doubles spot. The volleys were long and drawn out, but when it was said and done, CSI’s team of Ivi Selenca and Alex Tsui won for the fourth consecutive time together, by getting the better of Justin Vasquez and Jonathan Lum, 8-5.
That shifted the score to 2-1 in CSI’s favor, but the lead was soon to be short-lived. At No. 6 Singles, Christian Pena got through Lin by scores of 6-2, 6-1, to even the overall score, and a few minutes later four courts over, BC’s Mathur was efficient in a 6-4, 6-2, win over Vesci, giving the Bulldogs the 3-2 lead.
From there, however, CSI would rise to the occasion. DeCastro, in the No. 5 position, was first off of his court, as he was able to strike down Meyerovich, 6-4, 6-3 to even the score. Up top in the No. 1 position, CSI’s Selenica got through Justin Vasquez in the first set, 6-2, but Vasquez roared right back to a 6-1 win in the second set. Down to a crucial third set, It was Selenica that reached back and played the better tennis, scoring a 6-3 win to give CSI back the overall lead at 4-3.
That left the clinching courts at Nos.3-4 where the teams were neck-and-neck. The No. 3 flight was the first to go final, as Hwang followed up a 6-4 win in the first set over Calame-Mars, with a nail-biting, 7-5, win in set two, guaranteeing the win for CSI.
For extra measure, Tsui, the CUNYAC Player of the Week this week, stayed strong as well. He won the first set over Lum, 6-2, then followed with a 7-6 (10-7) win in set number two to give CSI the overall, 6-3, win.
Now armed with a four-game win skein after a season-opening loss, CSI will try and keep the streak, and their perfect CUNYAC record intact, when they host Lehman College on Thursday for a 3:30pm contest at the CSI Tennis Center.
