Willingboro, NJ...Three members of The College of New Jersey men’s tennis team advanced into the round of 16 at the 2009 Fall Eastern Intercollegiate Tennis Association Regionals on Friday. Not to be outdone, a pair of doubles teams also advanced into the round of 16 at the tournament being held at Millcreek Park.
Fifth-seeded Stewart Fernandez (West Windsor, NJ/West Windsor-Plainsboro South) opened with a 6-0, 6-0 win over Alex Franz from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, then defeated Pavel Zhuravlev of New York University 6-2, 6-2. In his next match, he will face Ithaca College’s Taylor Borda.
Freshman Keith Goldstein (Egg Harbor Township, NJ/Egg Harbor Township) kicked off his tournament with a 6-4, 6-0 victory against Elmira College’s Gabe Cortes and followed that up with a 6-2, 6-4 triumph over Yevgeny Perepelov from Hunter College. Next up for the Lion is third-seeded Carl-Eric Girardin of Skidmore College.
Stewart Fernandez (West Windsor, NJ/West Windsor-Plainsboro South) took on Alex James from Hobart College and outlasted the Statesman 7-6 (7-3), 6-4. He played an even longer match in the next round boasting the same results. This time Fernandez knocked off sixth-seeded Luke Granger of Skidmore 4-6, 7-6 (7-3), 10-5. His tournament continues on Saturday against 15th-seeded Max Willner of Vassar College.
Dean Thompson (Westfield, NJ/Westfield) started strong for TCNJ as he beat Alex Belfiore of Drew University 6-4 and 7-5. Thompson then fell to Ithaca’s Jimmy Newton in the second round by the scores of 4-6, 6-0, 10-8.
Jonathan Yu (Hamilton Square, NJ/Steinert) faced Stan Yakoff from Stevens Institute of Technology and pulled off an exciting 6-7 (5-7), 7-5, 10-4 win before bowing out of the tournament falling to ninth-seeded Lorenzo Cabrea from Skidmore, 6-4, 6-7 (4-7), 10-5.
In doubles, Thompson and Yu posted an 8-1 win over Hobart’s Mat Chin and Matt Hursh to advance into the round of 16, while Steven Fernandez an TJ Riley (Mt. Laurel, NJ/Moorestown) followed suit by beating St. Lawrence University’s Jake Dexter and Philip Jackley, 8-2.
Stewart Fernandez and Bill Carrig (Shamong, NJ/Seneca) faced a tough draw as they took on top-seeded Andrew Guzick and Mike Mattelson of Vassar College and fell 8-2.