CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – In its first NCAA Tournament match since the 2016 season, the St. John's men's tennis team fell, 4-0, to No. 5 seed Virginia on Friday afternoon at Sheridan Snyder Tennis Center in Charlottesville.
The Johnnies (19-6) held leads in two of the singles courts, but the Cavaliers (22-4) held off the Red Storm with three wins in singles competition.
Beginning in doubles play, Virginia jumped out to an early lead with a pair of 6-2 victories on the No. 1 and No. 3 courts, but the duo of
Alan Nunez Aguilera and
Ognjen Trejgut battled the entire way on the No. 2 court against UVA's Gianni Ross and William Woodall, going unfinished 5-4.
Facing three ranked singles opponents by the ITA, St. John's dropped the opening set in for of its six matches, but rallied in a pair of contests before play concluded.
Andrei Crapcenco ended his collegiate career with a great battle against No. 3 Carl Soderlund as the senior forced the Cavalier standout junior to take the first set in an extra frame, 7-5, before trailing 5-3 in the second set.
The Romanian finishes his season with a 10-3 record when playing on the No. 1 court this year in dual-match play.
Playing on the No. 2 Court, Nunez Aguilera was tasked to take on freshman sensation No. 82 Brandon Nakashima.
The Puebla, Mexico native ended his senior season with a loss in the No. 2 match to the nationally-ranked freshman, falling in straight sets, 6-1, 6-1.
Freshman
Udayan Bhakar was the second Johnnie to go down in singles play, losing in straight sets, 6-0, 6-2, to Virginia's Ryan Goetz. The freshman completed his first collegiate season with a 4-2 record on the No. 5 court this year.
Aditya Vashistha and Trejgut took the first set in their respective matches on the No. 3 and No. 6 courts. The sophomore was dominant throughout the entire first set, giving No. 114 Henrik Wiersholm a tough time on the court. Vashistha won the first set 6-3, before trailing 5-3 in the second set when the match had ended.
In the No. 6 tilt, Trejgut and his opponent, Aswin Lizen traded points on serve throughout the first set, leading to a tiebreaker. The junior who had dealt with back pain heading into the match persevered to take the first set, 7-6 (5). The contest went unfinished in the second set, concluding at a 3-3 tie in the second set.
Dusan Vukicevic, the hero in the BIG EAST Championship match against Marquette, fell in the last tilt of the contest against the Cavaliers, falling in straight sets to Gianni Ross, 6-3, 6-3. The most outstanding player of the BIG EAST Tennis Championships concluded his senior season with a 13-4 in his final season of competition.
"We fought hard today and battled against the No. 5 team in the country," said Head Coach
Dillon Pottish. "We had a great year, and I'm so proud of this whole team. I coached an exceptional group of seniors that I'll miss."
In Coach Pottish's first season as head coach of the men's tennis program, St. John's finished the year with a record of 19-5.