ORLANDO, Fla. - The reigning Atlantic 10 Men's Tennis Champions, George Washington, advances to the semifinals with a 4-0 victory over No. 7 Saint Joseph's. The Colonials will face the VCU Rams in a semifinal matchup that will be played at 2:00 pm on Saturday at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Fla.
The Colonials opened the match with a 6-2 victory at No. 2 doubles. Christos Hadjugeorgiou and Fernado Sala downed their Hawks oppoenents only dropping two sets. Julius Tverijonas and Christopher Fletcher clinched the doubles point for GW, finishing with a 6-3 victory at the top spot.
Tverijonas didn't miss a beat between play as he quickly defeated Tim Stierle 6-0, 6-3 at the top singles spot. Chris Reynolds followed with a 6-1, 6-2 victory, defeating Andre Fick at No. 3. Hadjigeorgiou clinched the match point for George Washington at the No. 4 position as he downed Beekman Schaeffer, 6-3,6-4.
The Colonials did not faced VCU or Saint Louis in the regular season.
#2 GEORGE WASHINGTON def. #7 SAINT JOSEPH'S, 4-0
SINGLES
1. Julius Tverijonas (GW) def. Tim Stierle (SJU), 6-0, 6-3
2. Christopher Fletcher (GW) vs. Kyle Chalmers (SJU), 4-6, 3-2 (DNF)
3. Chris Reynolds (GW) def. Andre Fick (SJU), 6-1, 6-2
4. Christos Hadjigeorgiou (GW) def. Beekman Schaeffer (SJU), 6-3, 6-4
5. Dennis Afanasev (GW) vs. Tristan Boustany (SJU), 6-3, 3-6 (DNF)
6. William Tutecky (GW) vs. Peter Dewitt (SJU), 4-6, 3-3 (DNF)
Order of Finish: 1, 3, 4
DOUBLES
1. Julius Tverijonas/Christopher Fletcher (GW) def. Tim Stierle/Kyle Chalmers (SJU), 6-3
2. Christos Hadjigeorgiou/Fernando Sala (GW) def. Scott Battaglia/Beekman Schaeffer (SJU), 6-2
3. Chris Reynolds/Jakub Behun (GW) vs. Dan Tan/Peter Dewitt (SJU), 4-5
Order of Finish: 2, 1
ORLANDO, Fla. - The third-seeded VCU Rams clinched a spot in the 2017 Atlantic 10 Men's Tennis semifinals with a thrilling 4-3 victory over Saint Louis Friday afternoon at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Fla. VCU will face No. 2 George Washington on Saturday at 2pm for a chance in Sunday's finale.
VCU started off doubles play with a win as Vitor Lima and Arvid Noren defeated Charlie Parry and John Nogalski, 6-1. The Billikens fired right back with a No. 1 singles victory from David Ferragut and Juan Calero Alonso. SLU clinched the doubles point as Justin Nogalski and Paarth Dodhiawala took a 6-2 decision against Javier Amantegui and Philip Mobius.
The Rams would will regain the lead in the match, as Amantegui and Noren each earned straight set wins on courts six and three, respectively, putting VCU ahead, 2-1.
Lima finished next, winning a first set tiebreak over SLU's Parry, 7-5, 6-3, bringing the Rams within a point of the match.
On the top two singles courts, Daryl Monfils picked up a first set victory, before dropping the second set to Ferragut. One court over, SLU's Calero Alonso would take the first set, before surrendering to Marten Jonsson in the second set to force a third set.
Ferragut would ride the momentum from his second set to clinch the match with a 6-2 victory over Monfils, cutting VCU's match lead to 3-2. Sensing a change of tide, Calero Alonso rallied back from a second set loss to defeat Jonsson, 6-3 in the match, and even the team score at three-all.
The match would be decided at court five between VCU's Ignacio Rivero Crespo and SLU's Dodhiawala. The pair went to a first set tiebreak, with Rivero Crespo victorious, 7-5. Crespo continued to lead in the second set over Dodhiawala, 5-3, appearing to have the court and match clinched, even before courts one and two were complete. Dodhiawala would rally back and force a tiebreak, but would eventually fall, again 7-5, giving the Rams a 4-3 team victory.
The Rams will make their fifth straight appearance in the A-10 semifinals. VCU and George Washington have met in the Championship finals in the previous four years, with GW being victorious three out of those four title matches.
#3 VCU def. #6 SAINT LOUIS, 4-3
SINGLES
1. David Ferragut (SLU) def. Daryl Monfils (VCU) 4-6, 6-3, 6-2
2. Juan Calero Alonso (SLU) def. Marten Jonsson (VCU), 6-3, 1-6, 6-3
3. Arvid Noren (VCU) def. John Nogalski (SLU), 6-1, 6-4
4. Vitor Lima (VCU) def. Charlie Parry (SLU) 7-5, 6-3
5. Ignacio Rivero Crespo (VCU) def. Paarth Dodhiawala (SLU), 7-5, 7-5
6. Javier Amantegui (VCU) def. Oscar Pachon (SLU), 6-4, 6-1
Order of Finish: 6, 3, 4, 1, 2, 5
DOUBLES
1. David Ferragut/Juan Calero Alonso (SLU) def. Daryl Monfils/Marten Jonsson (VCU), 6-4
2. Vitor Lima/Arvid Noren (VCU) def. Charlie Parry/John Nogalski (SLU), 6-1
3. Justin Nogalski/Paarth Dodhiawala (SLU) def. Javier Amantegui/Philip Mobius (VCU), 6-2
Order of Finish: 2, 1, 3