Bonnies finish 12th at ECAC's
10/03/04

The Bonnies completed its only team event this past weekend at the ECAC Championships.  The event showcase the Northeast region's 16 best teams with the winner earning a trip to the NCAA national indoor championships to be held in the winter.  The Bonnies were seeded 15th heading into the tournament and finished the weekend 12th.

The Bonnies played their first match against the nationally ranked #2 seed Brown University.  The Bonnies were swept in doubles play and Brown lead 1-0.  Senior Sajeel Qureshi and sophomore Dejan Stankovic both lost quickly and the Bonnies were down 3-0 quickly.  Sophomore Andrew Hart had taken the first set in his match before his opponent rallied and pushed the match to a third set.   Meanwhile, senior Nikhil Murali won at #4 singles 7-6, 7-5 to cut the Brown lead to 3-1.  The match was decided when senior Mario Arce lost in straight sets at #1 singles and gave Brown a 4-1 lead.  Sophomore Alejandro Nery was serving for the second set at #2 singles but couldn't convert and dropped a 7-6, 7-6 decision.  Hart would go up 4-0 in the third set before his opponent would rally and take the match, making the final score 6-1 for the Bears.

On the second day of competition the Bonnies faced the #11 seeded St. Johns University Red Storm.  Against St. John's, Arce and Stankovic scored an 8-4 victory at #2 doubles.  Moments later, Qureshi and Hart dropped an 8-4 decision at #3 doubles.  The doubles point came to the final match at #1 doubles.  Murali and Nery had a match point to win the doubles point but couldn't convert and dropped an 9-8 decision.  By virute of winning 2 of 3 doubles matches, St. Johns lead 1-0.

In singles competition, Hart suffered a straight set defeat at #5 singles to give St. Johns a 2-0 lead.  However, The Bonnies responded.  Qureshi and Arce both responded with hard-fought straight set victories at #6 and #1 respectively to even the score at 2-2.  Shortly after, Murali scored a 3-set victory to give the Bonnies the 3-2 lead with Stankovic and Nery remaining on court.  The Bonnies would have to win one of the two matches to take home the victory.  When the team-score became 3-2, Nery was in a second-set tiebreaker after winning the first set in a tiebreak and Stankovic was on-serve in the third set at 3-3.  Nery had a match point in the tiebreak but missed a forehand volley and wound up dropping the second set and going down a service break 1-0 early in the third set.  Stankovic dropped the third set 6-4, making the dual match score 3-3 with only Nery remaining on court.  If Nery won the match, the team would win 4-3, but if he lost the match they would also 4-3.  Behind encouragement from his teammates and friends, Nery would manage to break twice and gain a 5-3 lead.  In the final game, Nery's opponent saved 7 match points but Nery was able to clinch the victory for the Bonnies with a 7-6, 6-7, 6-3 victory.

On the next day of competition, the Bonnies would face #14 Rutgers for 11th place.  Rutgers won at #1 doubles while Arce and Stankovic responded with a win at #2 doubles and the doubles point again came down to a single match.  Qureshi and Hart were serving for the point at 7-6 but a bad serving game from Qureshi proved costly and the duo dropped a 9-7 decision and Rutgers scored a 1-0 lead.

In singles play, Arce and Nery posted quick singles wins and put the Bonnies up 2-1.  Hart suffered a straight-set loss at #5 and knotted the score at 2-2.  Qureshi then lost in straight sets and this gave Rutgers the 3-2 lead.  Rutgers took the win when Murali dropped a straight-set decision, putting Rutgers up 4-2.  Stankovic would win his match in a third set, making the final score 4-3.  Rutgers finished 11th, the Bonnies 12th.

Pictured: Members of the 2004-2005 Bonnies in downtown New York City.  The Bonnies finished 12th at the ECAC Championships this past weekend.

LOOKING AHEAD

The Bonnies will travel to the ITA Northeast Regional championships held at Virginia Tech.  The tournament is the premier individual tournament and will feature the regions top players in singles and doubles play.