After narrowly up-ending William & Mary on Saturday, the St. John’s men’s tennis team was defeated by Penn State 7-0 in Happy Valley on Sunday.
Sophomores R.J. Del Nunzio, Lucas Hejhal and freshman Robert Livi each lost their singles matches at the No. 1, 3 and 4 slots, respectively.
Saturday hero Vaidik Munshaw couldn’t swing any momentum as he lost in straight sets to the Nittany Lion’s Michael Rielly, 6-5 (3), 5-6 (2), 10-2.
St. John’s (1-1, 0-0) will welcome DePaul to Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on Jan. 31 at noon.
While the men struggled, the women shined against Fairfield, 5-2, in the team’s season opener.
This year’s season opener was the first at home for the ladies since the 2004-05 season.
Senior Yanita Arnaudova and junior Nastya Polyakova each had straight set victories at the No. 5 and No. 2 spots, respectively.
Freshman Anna Morozova won the clinching match with a 7-5, 6-0 win over Stag’s Allison Raddle.
This is the second straight year that the Red Storm (1-0, 0-0 Big East) beat Fairfield. St. John’s swept Fairfield 7-0 on Jan. 26, 2013. This is also the first time the Red Storm won their season opener since 2006 when they beat Binghamton, 6-1.
The ladies will travel to Princeton on Saturday, Feb. 1 when they take on the Tigers at noon.
