April 17, 2009

2009 Patriot League Men's Tennis Championship Page

West Point, N.Y. - No. 2 Colgate, No. 3 Army and No. 4 Bucknell all advanced to Saturday's semifinals of the 2009 Patriot League Men's Tennis Tournament after winning their quarterfinals matches on Friday at Army's Malek Tennis Center. No. 4 Bucknell defeated No. 5 Lehigh, 4-2, to advance to a semifinal matchup with No. 1 Navy on Saturday at 10 a.m. No. 3 Army beat No. 6 Lafayette, 4-0, and No. 2 Colgate handed No. 7 Holy Cross a 4-0 loss, setting up a semifinal match between No. 3 Army and No. 2 Colgate on Saturday at 2 p.m. Top-seeded Navy did not compete on Friday because they had a first-round bye.

The first quarterfinal match of the day saw four of the six singles matches go to three sets, as No. 4 Bucknell beat No. 5 Lehigh, 4-2. The Mountain Hawks picked up the early doubles point, as the No. 2 doubles tandem of Leland Richardson and Edgars Rauza beat Bucknell's Corey Cohenca and Mark Malloy, 8-6, while the No. 3 doubles team of Arnaldo Pacheco and Cam Silbert beat the Bison's Dan Bednarek and Jon Brenner, 8-2. But the Bison stormed back with four singles victories to advance to the semifinals. Bucknell's No. 1 Ryan Sandburg was ahead 6-2, 4-6, 5-4 against Lehigh's Troy List when the Bison picked up the winning point.

No. 4 Bucknell will face No. 1 Navy in the first semifinal match on Saturday at 1 p.m. Bucknell's last meeting with the Navy in the Patriot League Tournament was in 2007, with the Bison falling 4-0 to the Mids in the semifinals. Navy beat Bucknell, 6-1, in their regular season League matchup on Mar. 29.

The second quarterfinal matchup pitted No. 3 Army against No. 6 Lafayette, with the Black Knights picking up a 4-0 win. Army won the doubles match, 2-1, with the Lafayette point coming from the No. 1 doubles team of Eric Wiley and Doug Gallagher's defeat of Army's Phil Muhawi and Jordan Girdley. The Black Knights picked up two straight-sets singles wins at Nos. 4 and 5, and freshman Pete Williams gave up only one point to Lafayette's Kyle MacLelland after losing the first set, 2-6, rallying for a 2-6, 6-0, 6-1 win. With the victory, the Black Knights advanced to their 15th-straight semifinal match since the tournament was first conducted using a team format in 1994.

In the final quarterfinal match of the day, No. 2 Colgate faced off with No. 7 Holy Cross, with the Raiders pulling off a 4-0 win over the Crusaders to advance to a semifinal matchup with No. 3 Army. Colgate quickly earned the doubles point, with the No. 2 team of Phil Bernasek and Ruslan Goussiatnikov handing the Holy Cross tandem of Dan Phelan and Chris Das an 8-2 loss. The No. 3 Raiders team of Michael Yassky and Jamie Pellechi dropped only one game to Jay DeSanto and A.J. Shakar of Holy Cross in the 8-1 win. In singles play, the Raiders combined to give up only three games in the three match wins that allowed Colgate to advance to the semifinals of the tournament for the first time since 2007.

No. 2 Colgate and No. 3 Army will battle for a spot in Sunday's Patriot League Championship match on Saturday at 2 p.m. The Raiders and Black Knights last locked up in the semifinals of the 2007 tournament, when Army earned a 4-0 win to advance to the championship. Colgate defeated Army, 4-3, in the regular season Patriot League contest on April 10 at West Point.

Results for Saturday's semifinals and Sunday's championship match can be found at the conclusion of each day's action at www.PatriotLeague.com, as well as on the Men's Tennis Championship page that can be accessed here.

Results

Quarterfinal 1: No. 4 Bucknell 4, No. 5 Lehigh 2

Doubles

1. Ryan Sandburg/Anton Kovic (B) def. Troy List/Collin Laffey (L), 8-3

2. Leland Richardson/Edgars Rauza (L) def. Greg Cohenca/Mark Malloy (B), 8-6

3. Arnaldo Pacheo/Cam Silbert (L) def. Dan Bednarek/Jon Brenner (B), 8-2

Singles

1. Ryan Sandburg (B) ahead of Troy List (L), 6-2, 4-6, 5-4 (DNF)

2. Collin Laffey (L) def. Anton Kovic (B), 6-2, 6-4

3. Mark Malloy (B) def. Leland Richardson (L), 6-1, 2-6, 6-3

4. Greg Cohenca (B) def. Edgars Rauza (L), 6-3, 4-6, 6-2

5. Dan Bednarek (B) def. Arnaldo Pacheo (L), 6-3, 6-1

6. Clark Bogle (B) def. Chris Collins (L), 3-6, 7-5, 6-0

Quarterfinal 2: No. 3 Army 4, No. 6 Lafayette 0

Doubles

1. Phil Muhawi/Jordan Girdley (A) vs. Eric Wiley/Lee Kojanis (L), DNF

2. Chris Albornoz/Bruno Lucivero (A) def. Doug Gallagher/Kyle McLelland, 8-5

3. Sean Harris/Donald Van Velzer (A) def. James Murphy/Andrew Morris (L), 8-1

Singles

1. Phil Muhawi (A) ahead of Eric Wiley (L), 6-4, 3-6, 2-0 DNF

2. Doug Gallagher (L) ahead of Jordan Girdley (A), 3-6, 6-1, 3-1 DNF

3. Chris Albornoz (A) vs. Justin Harr (L), 6-1,6-7 DNF

4. Donald Van Velzer (A) def. James Murphy (L), 6-0, 6-0

5. Bruno Lucivero (A) def. Lee Kojanis (L), 6-2, 7-6 (6)

6. Pete Williams (A) def. Kyle McLelland (L), 2-6, 6-0, 6-1

Quarterfinal 3: No. 2 Colgate 4, No. 7 Holy Cross 0

Doubles

1. Martin MacIntyre/John Nogueras (C) vs. Matt Wierzel/Angelo Sica (H), 5-5 DNF

2. Phil Bernasek/Ruslan Goussiatnikov (C) def. Dan Phelan/Chris Das (H), 8-2

3. Michael Yassky/Jamie Pellechi (C) def. Jerome DeSanto/AJ Shakar (H), 8-1

Singles

1. Martin MacIntyre (C) ahead of Matt Wierzel (H), 6-0, 3-2 DNF

2. John Nogueras (C) ahead of Angelo Sica (H), 6-2, 4-1 DNF

3. Phil Bernasek (C) ahead of Dan Phelan (H), 6-1, 2-2 DNF

4. Michael Yassky def. Jerome DeSanto (H), 6-1, 6-0

5. Ruslan Goussiatnikov (C) def. Chris Das (H), 6-2, 6-0

6. Sean Spellberg (C) def. Tom Steinart (H), 6-0, 6-0

Semifinal Matches for Saturday, April 18 at Army's Malek Tennis Center

Semifinal 1: No. 4 Bucknell vs. No. 1 Navy, 10 a.m.

Semifinal 2: No. 2 Colgate at No. 3 Army, 2 p.m.