April 26, 2008

New Haven, Conn. - It was close, but in the end it was not close enough for the Stony Brook men's tennis team today at the America East Championships. The third-seeded Seawolves fell by a scant point to the second-seeded UMBC Retrievers, 4-3, in a semifinal match before moving on to defeat Boston University, 4-1 in a consolation match that marked the end of the season for Stony Brook. Freshman Artem Baradach (Minsk, Belarus) won three matches to lead the Seawovles.

Baradach and sophomore Alex Markovich (Brooklyn, N.Y.) took the No. 1 doubles match by an 8-4 score, but UMBC wound up with wins in the other two flights to take what turned out to be a crucial point.

Freshman Ivan Rummel (Budapest, Hungary) put Stony Brook on the board when he took a 6-4, 6-1 victory at No. 2 over Nick Savage-Pollack. The Seawolves continued their success at the top flights with sophomore Ilan Shvartz (Haifa, Israel) taking a 7-5, 6-2 win at No. 3 over Irfan Shamasdin. Baradach then picked up a come-from-behind win at the No. 1 position. After dropping the first set he stormed back against Chris Meyer to take a 0-6, 6-2, 6-4 victory.

With UMBC taking the Nos. 5 and 6 matches it came down to the No. 4 contest between junior Youssef Fassi-Fehri (Fes, Morocco) and David Jackson. Fassi-Fehri came back after dropping the first set to take the second and tie things up only to see Jackson come back to take a 6-2, 5-7, 6-4 win, and give the Retrievers enough points to take the match.

In the consolation against Boston Univ., Stony Brook picked up the doubles point this time with wins at the Nos. 2 and 3 positions. Shvartz got things going for Stony Brook in singles play with a 6-0, 6-1 win in his No. 3 position over Miron Nissim. The Seawolves then got two more straight sets victories, one from Baradach at No. 1, a 6-2, 6-1 win over Guillo Galloratti, and the other a 6-4, 6-1 triumph by Fassi-Fehri at No. 4 over Tim Sichler that gave Stony Brook the win to close out the season.

UMBC 4, Stony Brook 3

Doubles

1. Baradach/Markovich (SB) def. Shamasdin/Jackson; 8-4

2. Savage-Pollack/Ferriera (UMBC) def. Shvartz/Fassie-Fehri; 8-4

3. Meyer/Voorman (UMBC) def. Rummel/Epstein; 8-3

Singles

1. Artem Baradach (SB) def. Chris Meyer; 0-6, 6-2, 6-4

2. Ivan Rummel (SB) def. Nick Savage-Pollack; 6-4, 6-1

3. Ilan Shvartz (SB) def. Irfan Shamasdin; 7-5, 6-2

4. David Jackson (UMBC) def. Youssef Fassi-Fehri; 6-2, 5-7, 6-4

5. Fredi Voorman (UMBC) def. Jon Epstein; 6-2, 6-3

6. Fernando Ferreira (UMBC) def. Alex Markovich; 6-2, 6-4

Stony Brook 4, Boston University 1

Doubles

1. Shvartz/Fassi-Fehri (SB) vs. Chudacoff/Weinstein; 7-7 (DNF)

2. Rummel/Epstein (SB) def. Galloratti/Demeoi; 8-4

3. Baldock/Allen (SB) def. Sichler/Frid; 8-5

Singles 1. Artem Baradach (SB) def. Guilio Galloratti; 6-2, 6-1

2. Jeff Chudacoff (BU) def. Ivan Rummel ; 2-3 Default

3. Ilan Shvartz (SB) def. Miron Nissim; 6-0, 6-1

4. Youssef Fassi-Fehri (SB) def. Tim Sichler; 6-4, 6-1

5. Patrick Baldock (SB) led Phil Demeo; 6-2, 3-1 (DNF)

6. Will Allen (SB) led Allen Daniel Frid; 6-3, 4-2 (DNF)