Hart leads Bonnies at Virgina Tech
1/23/05

St. Bonaventure sophomore Andrew Hart (pictured) led the Bonnies to a 2-2 record at the Virginia Tech 5-1 shootout in Blacksburg, VA last weekend.  The team defeated Austin Peay State University and Liberty University by identical 4-3 scores.  The Bonnies dropped a
4-3 score to Radford university and 6-1 to Virginia Tech.  Eight Bonnies were showcased in the 5-1 shootout where teams played 5 singles matches worth 1 point and only 1 doubles match worth 2 points.  Also, players had to play either singles or doubles and not both in this exciting and fast-paced format.

Against Austin Peay on Friday, Hart teamed with senior Nikhil Murali for a straight-set doubles victory and the Bonnies also had straight-set wins from sophomore Dejan Stankovic at the #3 position and senior Mario Arce at the #1 position.

The Bonnies had double-duty on Saturday.  The team dropped their match against Radford in the afternoon session 4-3.  Hart teamed with Murali again for a 3-set doubles victory to give the Bonnies two vital points.  The Bonnies could only get one singles victory from Arce at #1 singles.  Against Virginia Tech, the Bonnies fell 6-1 to the nationally-ranked Hokies.  Hart, playing in singles action for the first time on the weekend, took a straight set decision over Tech's Akil Burgess at the #5 position.  Stankovic lost a close third-set at the #4 position.

The Bonnies would finish strong against Liberty.  Hart and Murali finished a perfect weekend with a straight-set victory in doubles to give the Bonnies a 2-0 edge.  Arce picked up his 3rd singles victory of the weekend at #1 and senior Sajeel Qureshi won a three-set match at #4 to clinch the victory.  Sophomore Alejandro Nery and Stankovic both suffered tough three-set losses at #2 and #3 respectively.  Senior Matt Cronmiller played well against strong competition in three singles matches at the #5 position but fell short in all matches.  Freshman Steven Steenland saw action in doubles against Virginia Tech with Qureshi and the duo fell short against a strong Virginia Tech team.

LOOKING AHEAD

The Bonnies will host Colgate on Jan. 30th and travel to Cleveland for a match with Cleveland State on the 31st.  The Bonnies defeated Colgate last Fall in a thrilling 4-3 match at the ECAC Championships.  The Bonnies also defeated Cleveland State 5-2 in their home-opener last spring.