March 20, 2008

QUEENS, N.Y. - The St. John's men's tennis team dropped a tough match to Harvard Thursday afternoon in Boston. The Crimson topped the Red Storm by the score of 5-2. With the loss, St. John's falls to 5-7 on the season, while Harvard improves to 6-4.

The Red Storm took an early advantage in the match by winning the doubles point. At No. 2, the team of junior Alex Svetlakov and sophomore Martin Kosut defeated Harvard's Michael Hayes and Dan Nguyen, 8-6. The No. 3 matchup between sophomore Derek Wallensteen and freshman Pavel Cerny and the Crimson's pair of Alexei Chijoff-Evans and Aba Omodele-Lucien also ended in an 8-6 score in favor of St. John's, giving STJ a 1-0 lead.

The Crimson swept the first five spots of the singles competition, however, en route to the 5-2 victory. Cerny won his singles matchup at No. 6, defeating Chijoff-Evans for the second time in the match, 6-4, 6-3.

The men's tennis team returns to action on Wednesday, March 26, when the squad travels to Philadelphia, Pa. to take on the University of Pennsylvania. First serve of the match is set for 2 p.m.

Harvard 5, St. John's 2
Murr Center - Boston, Mass.
March 20, 2008

Doubles (St. John's wins doubles point, leads the match 1-0)
1. Ashwin Kumar/Sasha Ermakov (Harvard) def. Artem Vlasenko / Gustavo Loza (STJ), 8-2
2. Alex Svetlakov / Martin Kosut (STJ) def. Michael Hayes/Dan Nguyen (Harvard), 8-6
3. Derek Wallensteen / Pavel Cerny (STJ) def. Alexei Chijoff-Evans/Aba Omodele-Lucien (Harvard), 8-6

Singles
1. Chris Clayton (Harvard) def. Artem Vlasenko (STJ), 2-6, 6-4, 6-3
2. Ashwin Kumar (Harvard) def. Alex Svetlakov (STJ), 6-3, 6-3
3. Sasha Ermakov (Harvard) def. Gustavo Loza (STJ), 4-6, 6-1, 6-2
4. Dan Nguyen (Harvard) def. Martin Kosut (STJ), 6-1, 6-0
5. Aba Omodele-Lucien (Harvard) def. Asaf Honig (STJ), 6-3, 6-4
6. Pavel Cerny (STJ) def. Alexei Chijoff-Evans (Harvard), 6-4, 6-3