The College of Staten Island men's tennis squad fell in their conference finale today, losing a close one to John Jay College, 5-4, at the CSI Tennis Center this afternoon. The Dolphins fell to 6-8 overall and 4-3 in the CUNYAC, while John Jay improved to 7-4, 6-1, respectively.
Despite the final it was CSI that wrestled control after preliminary doubles play. The team of
Nicholas Zikos and
Oscar Wu were decisive victors, 8-2, at No. 2 Doubles, and shortly after,
Riad Hamai and
Filip Bubalo, in the pole position, took out JJC's top tandem of Erkut Cakmak and Stephen Walz, 8-4. Despite a valiant comeback after being down, 6-1, CSi fell short at No. 3 Doubles, where
Austin Kapetanakis and
Dmitriy Vituk fell 8-6 to Frantisek Demek and Louis Chirinos.
CSI only needed a split of singles to take the win but ultimately fell one short. The wins for CSi came at the second and third spot. At No. 2, Hamia scored a 6-2, 6-3 winner, while Bubalo out-worked Chirinos decisively, 6-0, 6-0. Cakmak at No. 1, Kelvin Rodriguez, Walz, and Demek took wins for JJC to clinch the victory. Zikos fought valiantly in the top spot, but fell to Cakmak, 6-3, 7-6.
CSI is next in action Tuesday, April 24, against NYU-Polytechnic in their regular season finale at the CSI Tennis Center at 4pm. The next day begins the CUNYAC Tournament, where CSI has earned the No. 4 seed and will face either Lehman College or York College in the first round at the CSI Tennis Center.
