University of Connecticut Athletics
Men's Tennis Beats Rhode Island, 4-3
9/22/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
STORRS, Conn. (Sept. 22, 2005) – Wins by Jeff Klar, Joey Michaels and Christian Malerba at the lower three singles positions propelled the University of Connecticut men’s tennis team to a 4-3 win over Rhode Island on Thursday afternoon in the first dual match ever at the new UConn Tennis Courts in Storrs. The Huskies stand at 1-0 with the win.
The Huskies inaugurated their new home courts by taking an ultimately-decisive doubles point with wins at the top two positions. Sho Sato and Craig Helstowski took an 8-6 match at No. 1 while Michaels and Malerba teamed up on an 8-2 win at No. 2 over Kyle Duffy and Jeff Hedden. The Rams picked up a narrow, 9-8 (5), win at No. 3 doubles.
In singles play, URI swept the No. 1-3 positions while UConn won at No. 4-6 to salvage a split and take the overall match when coupled with the doubles point. Klar took down Duffy, 6-3, 6-2 at No. 4, Michaels cruised past Mark Marcello, 6-1, 6-0 at No. 5, while Malerba topped Tim Steere, 6-2, 6-2 at No. 6. The only match to go beyond two sets was at No. 3 where Rhody’s Kevin Redmond needed a super-tiebreaker to top Helstowski, 4-6, 6-1, 10-8. In addition, Michael Bobitski and Joel Gamoran took exhibition matches for UConn at the No. 7 and No. 8 positions, respectively.
The Huskies return to action on Sept. 27 when they play host to Hartford at 3:00 p.m.
DOUBLES
1) Sho Sato/Craig Helstowski (UC) d. Rob Sutphen/Kevin Redmond (URI), 8-6
2) Joey Michaels/Christian Malerba (UC) d. Kyle Duffy/Jeff Hedden (URI), 8-2
3) Andrew Costin/Mark Marcello (URI) d. Matt Stinson/Nate Carvalho (UC), 9-8 (5)
SINGLES
1) Rob Sutphen (URI) d. Matt Stinson (UC), 6-4, 6-3
2) Andrew Costin (URI) d. Sho Sato (UC), 6-1, 6-2
3) Kevin Redmond (URI) d. Craig Helstowski (UC), 4-6, 6-1, 10-8
4) Jeff Klar (UC) d. Kyle Duffy (URI), 6-3, 6-2
5) Joey Michaels (UC) d. Mark Marcello (URI), 6-1, 6-0
6) Christian Malerba (UC) d. Tim Steere (URI), 6-2, 6-2
7) Michael Bobitski (UC) d. Jeff Hedden (URI), 6-2, 6-2
8) Joel Gamoran (UC) d. Matthew Jones (URI), 6-3, 6-2
Players Mentioned
