ROCHESTER TOPS SAINTS 5-3

IN THIRD PLACE MATCH

Sept. 14: The St. Lawrence University men's tennis team lost their second consecutive match of the weekend, 5-3, to the University of Rochester on Sunday morning in the 2008 Flower City Tournament Third Place Match.

The loss sends the Saints to 1-2, while the Yellowjackets improve to 2-1 on the young season.

Senior co-captain Jon Satkowski continued to impress with his play over the weekend, as he swept his matches at both No. 1 Singles and Doubles. The Salisbury Mills, NY native and his partner junior Chris McDonald defeated Ryan Kovaleski and Brian Bowman 8-4 before he knocked off Kovaleski 6-4, 7-6 (2) at the top singles position.

Satkowski and McDonald would provide the Saints' lone doubles point, however, as Alex Magill and Brian Schmeer defeated St. Lawrence's No. 2 doubles team of junior Chris Rodilosso and first year student Nick Boltz 8-2 while Bennett Peterson and Crosby earned a win over junior Watson Bailly and sophomore Will Cook by the same 8-2 margin.

Boltz would provide St. Lawrence with their third point of the match with an impressive straight-set win at No. 4 over Rochester's Patrick Sheehan, 6-3, 6-2. However, the Yellowjackets held off the Scarlet and Brown with victories at No.'s 2, 3 and 6 to earn the 5-3 victory. Bowman handled senior Pete Abernethy 6-1, 6-1 at No. 2 singles, while Peterson rallied past McDonald 6-7 (5), 6-4, 10-5. Magill would close it out for Rochester with a 6-0, 6-3 victory at No. 6 over Rodilosso.

St. Lawrence will host the 2008 SLU Fall Classic next weekend, September 22 and 23.

SAINTS SPLIT OPENING MATCHES

OF 2008 SEASON

Sept. 13:  The St. Lawrence University men’s tennis team opened their 2008-09 campaign on Saturday at the annual Flower City Tournament in Rochester, NY.  The Saints swept their opening round opponent, RIT, before falling by the same margin to Oneonta State in the semifinals.

Senior Jon Satkowski looked solid in his opening matches, as he and partner junior Chris McDonald set the tone against the Tigers with an 8-4 win at No. 1 doubles against Jose Guzman and John Traver.  Junior Chris Rodilosso and first year student Nick Boltz then topped RIT’s second doubles pairing of Tontarski and Hall 8-5 while sophomore Will Cook and junior Watson Bailly made it a 3-0 sweep by downing Mauricio Pommier and Wolf, 8-6.

It was then Satkowski and McDonald who ended the match at the 5-0 decision, as each won their singles matches at the No. 1 and 3 slots, respectively.  Satkowski handled Guzman 6-3, 6-1 while McDonald knocked off Tontarski 6-3, 6-0.

The Saints’ victory set up a match with Oneonta State, a team they defeated twice during the 2007-08 season.  However, Saturday’s match was all-Red Dragons, as they swept the doubles matches en route to a 5-0 win of their own.

Matt Steinhauser and Mark Cannizzaro outlasted Satkowski and McDonald at No. 1 doubles, while Josh and Adam Slifkin were too much for Rodilosso and Boltz, 8-5.  Jon Dorin and Jeremy Goldberg then completed the 3-0 sweep with a dominating 8-0 performance against Cook and Bailly.

Though Satkowski, McDonald and Boltz all led their singles matches, Adam Slifkin and Matt Hanson ended the match at 5-0 with straight set wins over Cook and Rodilosso at the No. 5 and 6 singles spots.  Slifkin beat Cook 6-1, 7-5 while Hanson handled Rodilosso 6-1, 6-1.

St. Lawrence will be in action again on Sunday in the Third Place match against either Rochester or Skidmore College.

FIVE SAINTS HONORED FOR

ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENTS

Aug. 25:  The Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) has announced that five members of the St. Lawrence University tennis programs earned ITA Scholar Athlete Awards for the 2007-08 season.

Amin Danai ’08 joined teammates Christopher Tamm ’10 and Ryan Gillard ’11 as recipients on the men’s side, while Chelsea Hubbell ’10 and Mackenzie Hall ’11 were honored on the women’s team.  Danai became the first student in the program’s storied history to receive the honor four consecutive seasons.

“These five student athletes promote excellence both in the classroom and on the tennis court, and I’m extremely proud of their accolades,” said Saints head coach Jeremy Freeman. 

To be eligible for ITA’s Scholar Athlete Award, students had to post a grade point average of 3.2 or higher for the 2007-08 academic year.