George Washington University

Feb. 6, 2012

Box Score

PHILADELPHIA, Pa. – The George Washington men’s tennis team opened Atlantic 10 play on Sunday, splitting matches with Temple and Saint Joseph’s. The Colonials fell to the Owls, 4-2, early Sunday morning before bouncing back to sweep the Hawks, 7-0, that afternoon.

GW is now 3-4 overall and 1-1 in A-10 action, while Temple is 2-0 (1-0 A-10) and Saint Joseph’s is 1-3 (0-1 A-10).

The Colonials kicked off their first of two matches with the Owls at Arthur Ashe Tennis Center. Instead of beginning the match with the traditional doubles match play, Temple’s head coaches decided to begin with the singles matches. The Owls took a 4-2 lead after Nos. 1 – 6 singles matches, and the squads did not compete in doubles action.

Sophomore Viktor Svensson defeated Temple’s Mansur Gishkaev, 6-2, 6-2 in the No. 5 singles spot, and senior Richard Blumenfeld took down Stanislav Stekolshikov, 6-4, 7-5 in the No. 6 spot for GW’s singles victories.

The Buff and Blue then went across town to blank fellow conference foe Saint Joseph’s Sunday afternoon. Freshman Francisco Dias earned a No. 1 singles victory over Alex Veronis by scores of 6-3, 6-4. Senior Ugur Atalay notched his second No. 2 singles victory in as many days with a 6-2, 7-6 (4) win over Jeff Kessler.

Svensson recorded his second singles win of the day, this time in the No. 3 spot, with a 4-6, 6-1, 10-6 victory over Tommy Gates. In the No. 4 match, junior Leonardo Lapentti took down Dan Barrus, 6-4, 6-3.

Blumenfeld also recorded his second singles win of the day, earning a 6-2, 6-3 win over Max Montague in the No. 5 spot. Freshman Mike Kachkar made his dual meet debut for the Colonials and defeated Kristian Broaddus, 6-3, 6-1 in No. 6 singles.

Atalay and Dias teamed up in No. 1 doubles action and defeated the duo of Kessler and Montague, 8-2. Lapentti and Svensson earned an 8-6 No. 2 doubles victory over Barrus and Gates, and the No. 3 pair of Blumenfeld and Kachkar beat Cognetti and Veronis, 8-6.

GW returns to the court on Friday, Feb. 10 for a 10 a.m. match at Columbia. The Colonials then play Big East foe St. John’s on Saturday, Feb. 11 at 2 p.m.

Temple 4, George Washington 2
Singles
No. 1 – Filip Rams (TU) def. Francisco Dias (GW) – 7-5, 6-3
No. 2 – Kacper Rams (TU) def. Ugur Atalay (GW) – 7-6(5), 7-6(5)
No. 3 – Dmitry Vizhunov (TU) def. Alexander van Gils (GW) – 6-1, 6-1
No. 4 – Kristian Marquart (TU) def. Ulrik Thomsen (GW) – 6-2, 6-1
No. 5 – Viktor Svensson (GW) def. Mansur Gishkaev (TU) – 6-2, 6-2
No. 6 – Richard Blumenfeld (GW) def. Stanislav Stekolshikov (TU) – 6-4, 7-5

Doubles
Not Played

George Washington 7, Saint Joseph’s 0
Singles
No. 1 – Francisco Dias (GW) def. Alex Veronis (SJU) – 6-3, 6-4
No. 2 – Ugur Atalay (GW) def. Jeff Kessler (SJU) – 6-2, 7-6 (4)
No. 3 – Viktor Svensson (GW) def. Tommy Gates (SJU) – 4-6, 6-1, 10-6
No. 4 – Leonardo Lapentti (GW) def. Dan Barrus (SJU) – 6-4, 6-3
No. 5 – Richard Blumenfeld (GW) def. Max Montague (SJU) – 6-2, 6-3
No. 6 – Mike Kachkar (GW) def. Kristian Broaddus (SJU) – 6-3, 6-1

Doubles
No. 1 – Atalay/Dias (GW) def. Kessler/Montague (SJU) – 8-2
No. 2 – Lapentti/Svensson (GW) def. Barrus/Gates (SJU) – 8-6
No. 3 – Blumenfeld /Kachkar (GW) def. Cognetti/Veronis (SJU) – 8-6