Hagermoser, Svenning Excel in Unfinished Matches; Andrienko Stars Again as Short-Handed Bulldogs Fall 4-1 to St. John's
PHILADELPHIA, PA – The Yale men's tennis team wound up on the losing side of things for the second straight day on Saturday, falling to St. John's in the consolation round of the ECAC Championships. Key injuries to top players Tyler Lu and Ziqi Wang proved too much to overcome for the Bulldogs this weekend, as they dropped both tournament matches by a score of 4-1. Following a disappointing two days in Philadelphia, the Elis return to New Haven with much to work on; they can point to at least one positive, however: the recent success of sophomore Fedor Andrienko.
Yale fell behind quickly in the doubles round, with the opposition making few mistakes across the board. At No. 1 doubles, Yale's Andrienko and Stefan Doehler struggled against SJU duo Lucas Hejhal and Vaidik Munshaw, losing 6-2; the Elis then conceded the doubles point when Jason Brown and Alex Hagermoser fell to SJU's Robert Livi and Daniel Skripnik at the No. 2 spot, 6-3. With the doubles point already awarded to St. John's, the third and final match (in which SJU also held the lead) went unfinished.
Although the Bulldogs didn't mount a complete comeback in the singles round, their performance was markedly better than in doubles. Andrienko, in particular, impressed for the second straight day with a smooth 6-3, 6-0 win over SJU's Dusan Vukicevic at No. 4 singles. After a mixed record in the fall, Andrienko has turned it around completely in 2016, surging out to a phenomenal 6-1 dual match singles record; all six of those victories came in straight sets. His performance on Saturday only provided temporary relief for the Bulldogs, however, as SJU soon closed out the match with three convincing singles victories at Nos. 3, 5 and 6 singles. Though Yale's Nathan Brown, Doehler and Dennis Wang fought hard at these three positions to bring the Elis back into the match, their opponents fed off each other's positive energy and ultimately claimed all three matches in straight sets.
While the match ended immediately after St. John's secured four points, the final score line did not tell the whole story—Yale was actually doing quite well in the unfinished singles matches. At No. 1 singles, Martin Svenning had won his first set over SJU's Skripnik in a tiebreak; and at the No. 2 position, Hagermoser held a 6-5 second set lead over Lucas Hejhal after dropping the first set 6-3. Considering that both Bulldogs' opponents have proven themselves to be exceptional players (Hejhal ranks No. 92 in the country and beat Tyler Lu last season), Hagermoser and Svenning can count themselves among Yale's top performers on Saturday.
Following consecutive defeats, the injury-ridden Elis have slipped back to a .500 overall record (4-4). They will get the chance to bounce back next Saturday with an away match against Furman.
Report by Cameron Ferguson '18, Yale Sports Publicity
