Tennis falters in fall season finale

The Red Storm men’s tennis team wrapped up the fall portion of their 2008-09 season this past weekend at the Wilson/ITA Northeast Regional in New Haven, Conn.

The event, which was hosted by Yale University, featured the top players from 41 Division I schools from across the northeast region.

The Red Storm, who despite having two singles players and a doubles tandem with first round byes, finished the tournament with a disappointing 3-6 singles record and 0-3 doubles record.

“We never traditionally had a great fall [season] in my tenure because it is all individual,” head coach Eric Rebhuhn said. “We always bounce back in the spring [season].”

Milo Hauk, who advanced to the final 32 of the 128-player pool in the singles main draw, was the only bright spot during a rough weekend for the team with his 2-1 overall record.

Hauk knocked off Navy’s Jason Hill (6-2, 6-4) in the first round and was able to handle Justin Tzou of Dartmouth (6-2, 6-3) in the second round. However, Hauk was outmatched by Columbia’s Bogdan Borta in the third round and was defeated (7-5, 6-3).

Martin Kosut was the only other singles player from the team to earn a victory and live to see another round in the tournament as he easily defeated Brian Maher of Villanova (6-3, 6-1). Kosut then squared off with the third singles seed overall, Peter Capkovic of Princeton, and took a second round defeat (6-3, 6-1).

Other singles play for the Red Storm saw both Alex Sveltakov and Asaf Honig losing their respective matches in the second round, despite their first round byes, as well as first-round losses by Pavel Cerny and Gustavo Loza.

“Obviously Loza and Cerny will anchor the team and bounce back,” Rebhuhn said about the spring season. “I have high hopes for Milo [Hauk] to play high in the lineup and will probably be very successful.”

The Red Storm also threw out three different pairs in the doubles draw of 64. The tandems of Pavel Cerny and Derek Wallensteen, and Milo Hauk and Gustavo Loza were unable to defeat their respective first-round opponents.

“I’m not at all happy with the present [doubles] situation so I’m going to move the teams around, but I haven’t come up yet with what I am going to do,” Rebhuhn said.

Only the duo of Martin Kosut and Alex Svetlakov were able to compete in the second round thanks to an eighth overall seed and a bye in the first round. But they also lost their match, falling to Farleigh Dickinson’s Matt Gordon and Andrew Denny, 8-6.

“I think they were a little complacent,” Rebuhun said. “They came out flat and the other team was very solid. We weren’t responding,”