The Big East Tournament proved to be too big of a challenge for both the men’s and women’s tennis teams, as neither squad had a solid ending to the season. The Men’s team started off the tournament against DePaul, narrowly edging the Blue Devils by the final score of 4-3. In the deciding third doubles match, Artem Vlasenko and Claudio Halim
fended off Vanja Grgec and Danny Wilson 8-4. In the first singles match, senior captain Louis Desmarteaux defeated DePaul’s George Wang, 6-7 (4), 6-1, 7-5.
The next round proved to be much tougher for the men as they battled top-seeded Notre Dame (24- 3). The Fighting Irish held on to their No. 1 status as it handed St. John’s (13-9) a 4-0 loss, as the Red Storm could only muster victories in first, third, and fifth singles as well as in second doubles. St. John’s looked to rebound against USF (9-14) in the third-place game, but the results were the same as the Johnnies fell 4-0. With the loss, St. John’s finished fourth in the Big East.
The women’s team started the tournament by facing Syracuse (11- 9). The meeting wasn’t pleasant for St. John’s, who lost the match 4-2. Nataly Tumsevica defeated the Orange’s Olga Votavova (6-2, 6-4) in first singles, and Alison Adamski beat Maria Vasilyeva (6-1, 7-5) in second singles. In sixth singles, St. Johns’ Ashley Harper held the lead against Syracuse’s Chelsea Jones (7- 5, 5-2) before the game was called. St. John’s added a win at first doubles when the team of Adamski and Tumsevica defeated Votavova and
Vasilyeva, 7-6 in another game that was not finished.
In the concluding match of the tournament, the Red Storm faced West Virginia. The Mountaineers handed St. John’s its second consecutive loss, 4-1, as the Johnnies fell to
11th place in the Big East. St. John’s (7-11) could only break through with wins in first singles and first doubles. In doubles, Adamski and Tumsevica edged Natalia Prinz and Stacey Pervical, 8-3. In singles, Nataly Tumsevica beat Prinz, 6-1, 6-4.