April 22, 2005

Tampa, FL - The St. John's men's tennis team fell to the No. 1 seed in the BIG EAST Tournament, and the No. 35 team in the nation, 4-1 this morning in the first round of the 2005 BIG EAST Tournament in Tampa, FL. The fifth seeded Red Storm will face the loser of today's Boston College/Rutgers contest in the third place match tomorrow at 8:30 am.

The Red Storm fell behind early, as the Fighting Irish earned the doubles point. At No. 1, Louis Desmarteaux and Aurelio DiZazzo were forced to retire, due to an injury to Desmarteaux. Notre Dame went on to win the point with an 8-3 decision at the No. 3 position.

In response to Desmarteaux's injury, Red Storm head coach Eric Rebhuhn was forced to alter the St. John's line-up, bumping David Nylen to No. 1, DiZazzo to No. 2 and inserting Boris Chiporukha into the No. 3 slot.

Playing at the No. 4 spot, Nick Stocker dropped his match, 6-2, 6-1 to Sheeva Parbhu and, at the No. 3 position, Barry King stopped Chiporukha 6-2, 6-2. St. John's stayed alive, however, as Nylen won his first set 6-4 over Stephen Bass and went on to win the No. 1 match with a convincing 6-0 sweep of the second set.

Notre Dame put the match away at the No. 5 position, winning 6-1 and 6-3 to advance to the championship match tomorrow.