The men's tennis team will get their first taste of home cooking today through Sunday as the Huskies host the annual UConn Invitational in Storrs. This year will be the second year that the Huskies play the tournament on their new tennis courts. Returning from last year's action alongside the Huskies will be Boston University, Hartford, Holy Cross, Marist, Monmouth, Quinnipiac, Sacred Heart and UConn's most recent opponent in dual match play, URI.
Last year at the tournament, Marist stole the show as the Red Foxes won championships in two out of the three singles flights on top of a victory in doubles Flight A. Marist's Brendon Van Wasbeek won singles Flight B, while Red Fox Gregory Marks won Flight C singles. Flight A doubles was won by Red Foxes Mark Santucci and Federico Rolon to cap off the impressive weekend for Marist. Of that group, Marks and Rolon will be returning this year looking to defend their successes.
UConn played well, showcasing their new home courts last year at the invite, with the best performances coming from the doubles duo of Jeff Klar and Nate Carvalho, who won the B doubles flight. The other two Huskies doubles teams in Flight B each made it to the quarterfinals before being defeated.
Klar and Joey Michaels had very strong showings in the B singles flight for the Huskies, each making it to the quarterfinals before losing to the eventual finalists in the flight. UConn was represented the most in Flight C singles, with Mike Bobitski, Joel Gamoran, Aaron Ribchinsky and Ben Schueler all representing the host team. Of them, Ribchinsky and Gamoran made it the furthest each reaching the quarterfinals.
UConn (2-0 in dual match play this fall) is coming off a hard-fought 5-2 win at URI last Wednesday, Sept. 20. Doubles were the team's forte in that match, as the team of Schueler and Joe Goldstein won a close 8-6 match over the Rams' Henrik Almstron and Dixon Simmons. Carvalho and Ribchinsky teamed up for a confident 8-4 win over URI's Andrew Costin and Kyle Duffy.
The 5-2 match victory understates just how close the match really was. Three out of the four singles victories for the Huskies went to three sets. Schueler was able to hold off Almstron for an extremely impressive 7-6, 1-6, 6-3 victory in the No. 1 slot. Carvalho overcame dropping his first set 4-6 by bouncing back with set scores of 6-2 and 6-1, to defeat James McGuire at No. 5. Klar (6-3, 5-7, 6-2) got the victory at No. 6. The quickest victory of the day came from Christian Malerba at the No. 4 spot with a 6-4, 6-2 defeat of Simmons.
With only two home events on the schedule (this weekend's tournament and the upcoming match against Salve Regina Wednesday, Oct. 4, the Huskies will hope the support of the home crowd will translate into a strong performance. While some may look on the fall season as a primer for the more important spring season, tournaments such as this weekend's can often be a great confidence booster for the team.
Action begins at 9 a.m. at UConn's tennis courts on North Hillside Road and lasts all day each day of the tournament. Saturday, there will be a free T-shirt giveaway to those that attend. In the upcoming week, UConn will take on Salve Regina Wednesday, and attend the Bucknell Invite from Oct. 6 to Oct. 8.
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