Short-handed Bonnies go 2-2 over Spring Break
3/06/2005

St. Bonaventure defeated Dayton and Mercyhurst by 4-3 and 7-0 scores and were defeated by Binghamton and Furman by 5-2 and 6-1 scores over Spring break.  The Bonnies record now stands at 7-8.

The Bonnies played Dayton and Binghamton on Friday before leaving for Hilton Head, South Carolina.  In the morning match against Dayton, the Bonnies dropped the doubles point.  The sophomore duo of Andrew Hart and Dejan Stankovic dropped their first match of the spring season and the #3 duo of sophomore Alejandro Nery and freshman Antonio Farias also lost .  Seniors Nikhil Murali and Mario Arce won at #1 doubles.  However, the Bonnies lost more than just the doubles point against Dayton.  Stankovic suffered a mild ankle and wrist sprain after a bad fall in their doubles match and wouldn't be able to play in the singles.  In the singles against Dayton, Arce evened the score with a straight-set victory at #1.  Murali won a straight-set victory at #3 and Hart scored a hard-fought straight set victory at #4.  Nery scored a 3-set victory at #2 over Tom Murphy, the reigning Atlantic-10 Freshman of the Year Tom Murphy and clinched the victory for the Bonnies.  Senior Sajeel Qureshi (pictured) dropped a hard-fought straight set decision at #5 and Farias dropped a straight-set decision at #6.

In the afternoon match against Binghamton, the Bonnies learned they would be without the services of Stankovic who was hurting from his injuries.  The Bonnies  were swept in doubles.  Murali, Qureshi and Farias all dropped straight-set decisions at 3,5 and 6 respectively.  Arce and Nery continued their strong singles play from the morning and both won 3-set matches.  Hart dropped a 3-set decision at #4.

Against Mercyhurst in South Carolina, the Bonnies were able to win 2 of the 3 doubles matches to win the doubles point with wins from the duos of Arce/Murali and Hart/Nery.  The Bonnies were able to win all 6 singles matches in straight sets.  Against Furman, a nationally-ranked team, the Bonnies dropped 5 of 6 singles matches in straight sets.  Arce was able to score a straight-set victory at #1 over Steve Nash.  Furman was also able to sweep the doubles.  

 LOOKING AHEAD

The Bonnies will travel to Pittsburgh, PA to play against Atlantic-10 foe Duquesne on Saturday and then return home to play UMBC on Sunday.  The Bonnies have defeated Duquesne 5-2 and 7-0 in their past two meetings.  The match will be at the Oxford Athletic Club -  also the site of the Atlantic-10 Championships in early April.