4/7/2003

WASHINGTON, D.C. ? Georgetown?s men?s tennis team took road trips to Storrs, Conn. and Jamaica, N.Y. to play fellow BIG EAST members Connecticut and St. John?s this past weekend. GU notched its first BIG EAST victory on Saturday, April 5 defeating UConn 4-3 and then Sunday, April 6 the Hoyas fell to St. John?s 1-4.

Georgetown snapped a five-year losing streak to Connecticut when they downed the Huskies 4-3 at the East Hartford Racquet Club in Hartford, Conn. The Hoyas showed spirited determination and scrappy team play to defeat UConn for the first time since 1998.

The Hoyas started the UConn match with a superb doubles effort. GU was led by the #1 team of Marc Lohser (Woodbury, N.Y./Syosset) and Eric Bildman (Brookline, Mass./Roxbury Latin School) who erased an early deficit of 4-1 to take their match 8-5. That outcome was closely followed by another strong effort from the unheralded #2 team of Dennis Cravedi (Bethesda, Md./Georgetown Prep) and Ryan Peisel (Savannah, Ga./Savannah Country Day School) who forged a hard fought 8-6 win to clinch the doubles point.

However the Huskies fought back, much like the match at Connecticut two years ago when the Hoyas started well by winning the doubles point but were unable to sustain momentum, losing the match 5-2. Although Cravedi sustained his concentration by downing Mike Furman at #1 singles 6-3, 6-3 and Chris Belelieu (Hinsdale, Ill./Dr. Phillips (Orlando, Fla.)) chipped in a 6-4, 6-4 win at #3 singles over Max Zubatsky and Connecticut was down 3-0 and on the verge of a shutout loss, they fought on. Lohser was unable to stave off Joe Lang in the #2 singles match. Lang won a bruising three set battle 4-6, 6-4, 6-3. Bildman was also in position to clinch the decisive fourth team point, but was held off by Matt Stinson 7-6(4), 1-6, 6-4 in the #4 singles match. Peisel, after waiting to play as the other matches completed got off to a slow start and almost turned around his match in the second set. He fell in the #6 singles match to Mike Louis 6-2, 7-5. With the match knotted at 3-3, the task of winning the decisive fourth point fell on the shoulders of freshman Eric Conrad (Gloucester, Mass.). Conrad was up to the task as he claimed a 6-4, 7-5 victory over Andy Sweatt.

Turning around the next day the Hoyas traveled south in their weekend road trip to St. John's. Play could not be held outdoors at the SJU campus due to forty-degree temperatures and twenty mile an hour winds. The match was moved indoors to the Jericho-Westbury Indoor Tennis Center on clay courts. The Hoyas fought with the same heart and intensity that characterized their previous day's play against UConn, but St. John's was too tough. Lohser picked up the Hoyas only team point of the day as he fought long and hard to down Rick Ferreira 4-6,6-2,6-3.

Men's Tennis
Georgetown vs Connecticut
Saturday April 5, 2003
East Hartford Racquet Club, East Hartford, CT
 Doubles
 #1 Marc Lohser/Erik Bildman d. Furman/Lang(UC) 8-5
 #2 Dennis Cravedi/Ryan Peisel d. Zubatsky/Ravesloot(UC) 8-6
 #3 Chris Kindler/Chad Mihalick vs Stinson/Sweatt(UC) 4-6 DNF
 Score from the doubles competition- Georgetown-1, Connecticut-0
 Singles
 #1 Dennis Cravedi d. Mike Furman(UC) 6-3,6-3
 #2 Marc Lohser l. Joe Lang(UC) 4-6,6-4,6-3
 #3 Chris Belelieu d. Max Zubatsky(UC) 6-4,6-4
 #4 Erik Bildman l. Matt Stinson(UC) 7-6(4),4-6,6-4
 #5 Eric Conrad d. Andy Sweatt(UC) 6-4,7-5
 #6 Ryan Peisel l. Mike Louis(UC) 6-2,7-5
 Score from the singles competition- Georgetown-3, Connecticut-3
 Final Score- Georgetown-4, Connecticut-3

Men's Tennis
Georgetown vs St. John's
Sunday April 6, 2003
Jericho-Westbury Indoor Tennis Center, Jericho, NY
 Doubles
 #1 Marc Lohser/Erik Bildman l. Agniel/Maxwell(SJ) 4-8
 #2 Dennis Cravedi/Ryan Peisel l. Bauer/Chiporuka(SJ) 6-8
 #3 Chris Kindler/Chad Mihalick vs Ferreira/Goldberg(SJ) 7-6 DNF
 Score from the doubles competition- Georgetown-0, St. John's-1
 Singles
 #1 Dennis Cravedi l. Arnaud Agniel(SJ) 0-6,0-6
 #2 Marc Lohser d. Rick Ferreira(SJ) 4-6,6-2,6-3
 #3 Chris Belelieu l. Jake Maxwell(SJ) 0-6,0-6
 #4 Erik Bildman l. Morgan Bauer(SJ) 6-4,6-2
 #5 Eric Conrad vs. Boris Chiporuka(SJ) 5-5 DNF
 #6 Ryan Peisel vs. Todd Goldberg(SJ) 4-2 DNF
 Score from the singles competition- Georgetown-1, St. John's-3
 Final Score- Georgetown-1, St. John's-4