The men’s tennis team had a strong showing in its season’s opening tournament, claiming three championship at the Cornell Fall Outdoor Invitation. The Red victories came in “C” flight singles and in “A” and “B” flight doubles.
In “C” singles, sophomore Arvinda Neumann topped classmate Mike Schlappig in the final (6-1, 4-6, 6-1) for the championship. In the early rounds of the tournament, Neumann defeated Jonathan Boswell of Penn 7-5, 6-1, followed by Neil Toloney of Yale 6-0, 6-1 to reach the semifinals. There, he upset top seed Rafael Albornoz of Army 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 to get the final match. Schlappig also enjoyed straight sets victories Saturday over Army’s Sebastian Salas 6-3, 6-2 and UMBC’s Luis Baraldi 6-1, 6-2. In the semifinals, he beat Sean Montgomery of Penn 6-2, 6-3.
Schlappig was also successful in “B” doubles competition. Teamed for the first time with sophomore Zach Gallin, the duo defeated Sonny Avichal and Salas of Army 8-3 before beating Army’s top-seeded pair of Albornoz and Kent Ball 8-4 for the title.
The “A” doubles team of senior co-captians Stefan Paulovic and Pat Hagan toughed out a tense final against Army’s John Sabia and Arnoldo Albornoz, winning the 8-game proset 9-7. In the early rounds, they beat Mike McGrath and Velek of Bloomsburg by default, then Josef Novotony and Eric Nudo of UMBC 8-6. In the semifinal, they passed by Ryan Murphy and Johhny Lu of Yale 8-0.
Elsewhere, Novoty was victorious in “A” flight singles. Murphy defeated Chris Lewis `02 in the “B” singles final (2-6, 6-3, 6-3), and Yale’s Andrew Arons won the “D” singles title 6-7, 7-6, 6-2 over Hagan.
Archived article by Owen Bochner