The College of Staten Island men's tennis squad got through to the 2011 CUNYAC Tournament Semifinals, scoring a 5-0 win over visiting No. 7 Brooklyn College in quarterfinal play this afternoon at the CSI Tennis Center. For the Dolphins, the win was the second this year over the Bulldogs and was the 11th-straight victory for the squad that now boasts a 16-4 overall mark. Brooklyn College finalized their season with a 4-10 overall mark. The win will pit No. 2 CSI (7-1 CUNYAC) with No. 3 Hunter College (6-2) in semifinal play on Monday at 5:00 pm at the National Tennis Center in Flushing, New York.
CSI needed a good start in doubles play and that's exactly what happened as the Dolphins quickly scored three wins to put them well on their way to victory. At the top spot, the team of Nick Zikos and
Patrick Thomas powered to an 8-1 win, while the No. 2 team of
Joseph Taranto and Dan Ursomanno and the No. 3 team of Masaru Takaki and Georgio Dano scored identical 8-2 wins at nearly the same time.
Play shifted to singles and it was CSI's duo at the top that got through their matched first, clinching victory, and suspending further play. At No. 1, Zikos was superb in a 6-1, 6-0, win over Matthew Micherlson, while at No. 2, Thomas soared to a 6-2, 6-1, win over Anthony Chan. CSI was ahead in the final four flights as well, but they remained unfinished.
Prior to the match taking place the Dolphins celebrated Senior Day, as Head Coach Paul Ricciardi presented his five seniors with commemorative picture frames. The lot of seniors includes four-year stars
Robert Hargraves,
Joseph Taranto and
Gary Ambartsumov, graduate student Georgio Dano, and Japanese exchange student Masaru Takaki, who is playing at CSI for the lone 2011 season.
The win will now send CSI to the conference semifinals for the fourth consecutive season, and their matchup with Hunter College will serve as a rematch to last year's CUNYAC Final, won by the Hawks, 5-2. Most of the higher seeds held serve in all of the quarterfinal matches today. In the other semifinal scheduled for the same time, top-seeds Baruch College (8-0) will take on No. 5 City College of New York (4-4). The two semifinal winners will square off on Thursday, May 5, at 5pm, also at the National Tennis Center.
