Men's Tennis Edged By Culinary Institute

FLUSHING, NY – The St. Joseph's College men's tennis team remained winless in their sophomore season losing a tight 5-4 conference battle to Culinary Institute of America on Saturday afternoon at the National Tennis Center.

After completion of the doubles matches, St. Joseph's trailed 2-1 but Culinary forfeited at sixth singles, so the match was tied as singles play began.

Ed Han (McLean, VA/W.T. Woodson) paced the Bears with his first singles win of the season, an 8-6 victory over Phil Shumecko.  Muhammad Ali Bhatti (Brooklyn, NY/James Madison) added a convincing 10-2 win at second singles over James Lin.  Bhatti is currently 3-2 in singles and 2-3 at doubles this season.  Jon Matzelle (Queens, NY/St. Francis Prep) lost a tight 8-6 match at third singles and Anthony Grasso (Queens, NY/St. John's Prep) fell 8-2 at fifth singles.

With singles matches completed on the other courts, the fourth singles match would be the deciding match.  Pat Chiarel (Queens, NY/Archbishop Molloy) trailed by one break at 6-4 but dropped the final two games and lost 8-4 giving Culinary a 5-4 victory.

St. Joseph's sits at 0-5 and 0-2 in Hudson Valley Men's Athletic Conference play.  The Bears return to action hosting defending HVMAC champion Cooper Union on Thursday, April 23 at 7 p.m. at the National Tennis Center in Flushing, NY.