March 13, 2009

Bethlehem, Pa. -

It was anything but bad luck for the Stony Brook University men's and women's tennis teams today as both visited Lehigh and came away with decisive victories. Junior Jon Epstein (Silver Spring, Md.) had wins at doubles and singles to help the Seawolves take a 4-1 win in men's action. On the women's side the SBU freshmen led the way to a 7-0 win over Lehigh, with Katherine Hanson (Smithtown, N.Y.) dropping just two games in her singles match.

In the men's match Stony Brook (7-3) had no trouble picking up the doubles point, winning all three matches. With that point in hand the Seawolves moved to doubles play where sophomore Ivan Rummel (Budapest, Hungary) and Epstein scored straight sets victories at Nos. 2 and 3 to move SBU within a point of the win. Lehigh picked up its point with a win at No. 1, but at No. 4 freshman Bertrand Marcos (Paris, France) fell in his first set but rallied to take a 4-6, 6-3, 10-7 win to clinch the match for the Seawolves.

Stony Brook's women were just as impressive as the men and started by taking the Nos. 1 and 2 doubles matches by the same 8-3 score to pick up the first point. The Seawolves rolled on in singles play, where Hanson and freshman Prerana Appineni (Hyderabad, India) both blanked their opponents in the first set of their matches on their way victories. Freshmen Gayatri Krishnan (Chennai, India), Salome Mkervalidze (Brewster, N.Y.) and Anna Pieschl (Gothenberg, Sweden) also won in straight sets in their matches, with senior Erica Federgreen (Scottsdale, Ariz.) completing the sweep with an 8-6 win at No. 6 singles over Ruthie Furman.

Stony Brook's men's squad will also play tomorrow, taking on Niagara University at Lehigh beginning at 9:00 a.m. The Seawolves women will not be in action again until March 28 when they host America East foe Binghamton.

Stony Brook 4, Lehigh 1 (Men)
Singles
1. Troy List (LU) def. Halvar Dil; 6-3, 6-4
2. Ivan Rummel (SBU) def. Collin Laffey; 6-3, 6-1
3. Jon Epstein (SBU) def. Edgars Rauza; 6-1, 6-2
4. Bertrand Marcos (SBU) def. Chris Collins; 4-6, 6-3, 10-7
Doubles
1. Dil/Rummel (SBU) def. List/Laffey; 8-5
2. Epstein/Marcos (SBU) def. Silbert/Pacheco; 8-4
3. Fassi-Fehri/Wong (SBU) def. Rauza/Collins; 8-3

Stony Brook 7, Lehigh 0 (Women)
Singles
1. Katherine Hanson (SBU) def. Allie Schwartz; 6-0, 6-2
2. Prerana Appineni (SBU) def. Julie Arthofer; 6-0, 6-3
3. Gayatri Krishnan (SBU) def. Ariela Cohen; 6-1, 6-2
4. Salome Mkervalidze (SBU) def. Liz Piscitelli; 6-2, 6-3
5. Anna Pieschl (SBU) def. Stacey Reich; 6-2, 6-2
6. Erica Federgreen (SBU) def. Ruthie Furman; 8-6
Doubles
1. Pieschl/Appineni (SBU) def. Arthofer/Piscitelli (LU) 8-3
2. Rodolfi/Mkervalidze (SBU) def. Schwartz/Cohen (LU) 8-3
3. Furman/Reich (LU) def. Krishnan/Federgreen (SBU) 8-6