April 8, 2008

QUEENS, N.Y. - The St. John's men's tennis team fell in a hard-fought match against Concordia College, 4-3, Tuesday afternoon on the Courts at St. John's. The loss drops the Red Storm's record to 8-10, while the Clippers improve to 10-2.

St. John's took the early advantage in the match by winning the doubles point. Juniors Artem Vlasenko/Gustavo Loza won their matchup at the No. 1 spot, 8-6, while junior Alex Svetlakov/sophomore Martin Kosut took theirs by the same score at the No. 2 spot.

Concordia rallied, however, to take a 3-2 lead with wins at Nos. 1, 2, and 4. Loza won his match at the No. 3 spot, 6-4, 6-3 over Concordia's Nik Boerger. Freshman Asaf Honig evened the score up at 3-3 with a win over Vlad Malkin at the No. 6 spot. The whole match came down to the No. 5 spot, where freshman Pavel Cerny had an early one-set lead, but the Clippers' Kirill Azovstev rallied to win 4-6, 6-2, 6-3.

The Red Storm returns to action on Thursday, when the team hosts the Villanova Wildcats in its final BIG EAST match of the regular season. The teams will square off at 3 p.m. on the Courts at St. John's.

Concordia 4, St. John's 3
The Courts at St. John's - Queens, N.Y.
Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Doubles (St. John's wins the doubles point, leads the match 1-0)
1. Artem Vlasenko / Gustavo Loza (STJ) def. Alex Grubin/Nik Boerger (CC), 8-6
2. Martin Kosut / Alex Svetlakov (STJ) def. Kirill Azovtsev/Vlad Malkin (CC), 8-6
3. Rodrigo Teixeira/Henning Ruenz (CC) def. Derek Wallensteen / Pavel Cerny (STJ), 8-6

Singles
1. Alex Grubin (CC) def. Artem Vlasenko (STJ), 7-5, 7-5
2. Rodrigo Teixeira (CC) def. Alex Svetlakov (STJ), 6-3, 7-5
3. Gustavo Loza (STJ) def. Nik Boerger (CC), 6-4, 6-3
4. Henning Ruenz (CC) def. Martin Kosut (STJ), 6-3, 6-1
5. Kirill Azovtsev (CC) def. Pavel Cerny (STJ), 4-6, 6-2, 6-3*
6. Asaf Honig (STJ) def. Vlad Malkin (CC), 6-4, 6-2

* denotes clincher