September 23, 2008

Red Successful in Tournament Play

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In a tournament where Cornell was matched up against highly capable foes including Boston College, Ole Miss, and Louisville — not to mention a host of Ivy League rivals — the Red managed to find success in Flushing Meadows this past weekend at the Men’s College Tennis Invitational.
The final of the Doubles III bracket featured a matchup between two Cornell teams. Junior Jon Fife and sophomore Jonathan Jaklitsch defeated sophomores Andy Gauthier and Jeremy Feldman for the title.
“We were really pumped [to play them in the finals],” Jaklitsch said. “They had beaten us in practice last week really badly, but going in there we had so much confidence.” Jaklitsch also took time out to congratulate Feldman and Gauthier on making it to the finals.[img_assist|nid=31994|title=Electrifying|desc=Senior Shayna Miller made up half of the Red’s Flight B Doubles champion pair on Sunday afternoon.|link=node|align=left|width=|height=0]
This year’s invitational was the first time the event was structured as an individual tournament. Previously it had always been a team tournament. Last fall, Cornell lost to Dartmouth. It was also the first road event for new head coach David Geatz, whose previous tenure was at the University of Minnesota, where he attended from 1988 to 2007.
“[Coach Geatz] has a lot of experience. In terms of strategy, he knows how to win,” Jaklitsch said.
In Singles VI play, Gauthier will face another teammate in the finals — freshman Connor Sherwood — at a later date. No. 1 singles player Kyle Doppelt failed to advance past the quarterfinals in either his singles or doubles brackets, but his opponents included Jonas Berg, ranked 8th in the country as a freshman and a former member of the Swedish National team. Fellow senior Marc Asch advanced to the semifinals of Singles IV
The women’s tennis team also fared well this weekend, in the more familiar atmosphere of Reis Tennis Center. Seniors Catherine Duboc and Shayna Miller defeated Temple in the finals of the Flight B Doubles bracket. Miller also made it to the finals of the Flight B Singles draw, before losing to Temple 6-4, 6-2.
“Shayna did really well,” Duboc said. “The freshmen actually did pretty well too.”
This was also the first tournament for coach Barry Schoonmaker, who switched over from the men’s team. The women’s squad will split up next weekend, participating in invitationals at West Point and Philadelphia.