Oct. 1, 2007

QUEENS, N.Y. - The St. John's men's tennis team began its fall season with a tenth place finish at the 2007 ECAC Division I Invitational Championship this weekend held at the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, N.Y. The squad, seeded tenth in the championship, finished with a 2-1 record with wins over St. Bonaventure, 6-1, and UMBC, 5-2, after a well-fought first round loss to Brown, 4-3.

"It was a very good, solid weekend for the team," said head coach Eric Rebhuhn. "We had a good start to the 2007-08 campaign."

Play began Friday for St. John's with a grueling five hour opening round match against Brown. The Red Storm's No. 1, 2, and 3 singles spots defeated the Bears' as senior Artem Vlasenko, junior Sasha Svetlakou, and sophomore Martin Kosut picked up the team's first 3 points of the match. Freshman Pavel Cerny, sophomore Derek Wallensteen and junior Jordan Talbot lost their match-ups with Brown's No. 4, 5, and 6 spots. The deciding point was won by Brown as they swept the Red Storm in the three doubles match-ups and won the match 4-3.

In Saturday's action, the Red Storm defeated St. Bonaventure, 6-1. The doubles teams of Svetlakou/Wallensteen, Cerny/Kosut, and Talbot/Vlasenko earned the doubles point for St. John's by sweeping the Bonnies' three pairs. In singles action, Vlasenko, Svetlakou, Kosut, Cerny and Wallensteen each picked up victories.

The Red Storm finished off play on Sunday with a 5-2 win over the University of Maryland-Baltimore County. No. 1 Vlasenko, No. 3 Kosut, No. 4 Cerny and No. 5 Talbot picked up points in singles action for St. John's. The Red Storm also picked up the doubles point by winning in the 2nd and 3rd spot after falling in the 1st.

The men's tennis team returns to the courts Oct. 18-23 when the squad will compete in the ITA Regional Championships held in Princeton, N.J.

- Red Storm -