Men’s Tennis Downs City Tech to Capture First Win of Season

BROOKLYN, NY – In a match that was suspended for nearly a week due to rain, the St. Joseph's College men's tennis team took a 7-2 victory over City Tech on Thursday night.  Recently named HVMAC Player of the Week Ed Han (McLean, VA/W.T. Woodson) and Muhammad Ali Bhatti (Brooklyn, NY/James Madison) led the Bears winning their singles matches and pairing up for a win at doubles.

The match began on Friday, April 16th at the National Tennis Center and St. Joseph's took a 3-0 lead after the doubles portion.  Rain forced the suspension of the singles matches which were resumed yesterday at Pratt Institute, after the completion of their HVMAC match with Pratt, which the Bears dropped 9-0.

St. Joseph's swept the doubles in convincing fashion, holding City Tech to four games in all three flights.  Han and Bhatti won at 1st doubles, improving to 6-3 on the season.  Mahmoud Elsayed and Derrick Akwei (Bronx, NY/Port Angeles HS) earned a decisive 8-1 win at 2nd doubles and Steve Tanamal and Javier Bosque (Queens, NY/La Salle) prevailed at 3rd doubles.

Needing to win only two of the singles matches for the overall victory, Han and Bhatti clinched the win with 10-3 and 10-7 victories at 1st and 2nd singles, respectively.  Akwei and Johan Seo each captured their first career singles victories, Akwei pulling out a 10-8 win at 4th singles and Seo winning 10-7 at 6th singles.  Anthony Grasso (Jackson Heights, NY/St. John's Prep) and Bosque both played hard fought matches in defeat.

St. Joseph's (1-9) returns to action on Saturday, April 24th squaring off against Sarah Lawrence in an HVMAC contest at the National Tennis Center starting at 3 pm.