September 26, 2009

MEN'S TENNIS FINISHES STRONG AT UCONN – PAREDES WINS SINGLES

Juan Paredes captured the Flight A title at the UConn Husky Invitational Saturday in Storrs, Conn.

STORRS, Conn. – There is something about regional tournaments that bring out the best in the Bryant men's tennis team.  A few years ago, the Bulldogs had a strong showing at the ITA regionals with Jose Rodriguez winning the East regional title.   Since then, the Bulldogs have enjoyed great outings at Newport, Fairfield and Brown. Now, include the UConn Invitational as another tournament the Bulldogs have made history.

Led by the play of Juan Paredes, the Bulldogs finished the Husky tournament with a combined 18-9 record with Paredes capturing the singles tournament title in Flight A.  Paredes picked up over UConn's Yoon 6-4, 6-4 in the semifinals and secured the championship with a win over Holy Cross's Wierzel in the final match.

Teammate Cristian Balestrieri also reached the semifinals of the same flight as Paredes, but fell to Wierzel in the other semifinal, preventing a matchup with Paredes in the final.  But Balestrieri's play helped set the stage for Paredes to win the Flight A, giving Wierzal all he could handle before falling 7-6, 7-5.

Other highlights for the Bulldogs include Tom Nowak who reached the semifinals of Flight B singles with a stunning come-from-behind win over Bucknell's Marcil, 2-6, 6-3, 10-8. 

Bryant's No. 3 and No. 4 doubles both reached the semifinals of Flight C as the tandem of Nowak and Gardiner helped the Bulldogs rebound from Wednesday's loss with a big win over UConn's No. 2 doubles.

“Our first Division I Flight A championship could not have been sweeter,” said a pleased coach Ron Gendron.  “The tag-team victory from Juan and Cristian was absolutely phenomenal.  The guys played great.  I couldn't be more proud of them.”