2002 CUNYAC Men's Tennis Preview

It's Anybody's Game

"You can go down the line - Baruch, Brooklyn, Hunter, Lehman, John Jay -- and there's no weak link this year. All of the programs have improved from last season," said Staten Island head coach Bruce Knittle, winner of seven of the last nine CUNY Athletic Conference men's tennis championships. "Usually, CUNY schools have up-and-down years, but I've never seen one like this where everyone is strong," said the 11th-year mentor.

The College of Staten Island (9-2, 7-1 CUNY) returns the teams top three starters from the title team of a year ago, but Knittle still has questions about his lineup. Brian Pendleton, a 26-year old veteran of the U.S. Coast Guard, will be the team's new number one player. Last years #1 Mourad Mourad (Wagner / Staten Island, NY) will slide to the number two spot, followed by Jay Song (Tottenville / Staten Island, NY) and Paul Ricciardi (St. Joseph's Sea / Staten Island, NY) at positions three and four. Song won the CUNY title at #2 last year and Ricciardi lost in the final at #3. Also at the 2001 Championships, Ricciardi won the #2 doubles title with partner Igor Ogoula, who is not returning this season. Neither is Champ Albano, the #5 singles & #3 doubles CUNY last year. Those losses worry Knittle, but expect a combination of three players to fill out the Dolphins' lineup: freshman Craig Gellerman and the uncle-nephew tandem of Francesco and Frank Sciortino.

Baruch College (8-1, 7-1 CUNY) won the Regular Season title, but came up short in last year's tournament. The Statesmen finished second to CSI by three points, leaving head coach Florin Giuglescu and squad with some unfinished business.

"This is my best team I've ever had at Baruch," said the ever-confident Giuglescu, who last won the title in 2000 with a record 51 points, three short of a perfect score. "We have four players that are going to be playing at lower flights than they won last season."

The reason for the reseeding of the squad are two new players, Fahad Sarwani, a sophomore from New Jersey, and junior Vladimir Goldin (Brooklyn Tech / Brooklyn, NY), both of whom have never played for the Statesmen before.

That leaves returnees Thach Phu (Fort Hamilton / Brooklyn, NY), Eugen Balagula (Murrow / Brooklyn, NY), Chander Goel (India) and Amir Tsekun (Sheepshead Bay / Brooklyn, NY) all sliding down in the lineup. Goel, a senior has won the CUNY title at #4 singles two years running, and should be incredible at number five. Two new contributors for the Statesmen will be Witton Ng (Midwwod / Brooklyn, NY) and Mikhail Kopelevich (Murrow / Brooklyn, NY).

A team to look out for is Brooklyn College (5-6, 5-3 CUNY), as they welcome back senior ace Pavan Khurana (Hewlett / Hewlett, NY). Khurana won CUNY titles in 1998 and 2000, but was sidelined last season with a serious knee injury. In addition, the Bridges two CUNY champs last season, Fyodor Polonsky (#1 singles) and Stanislav Yurinets (#3), are not returning this season. In his two previous seasons, Khurana never lost a CUNY match and is the only CUNY player in recent years to qualify for the National Championships. Combine him with returning players Eugene Girshtel (Murrow / Brooklyn, NY) at #2 and seniors Jeff Chen (Valley Stream / Valley Stream, NY) and Mrugank Shukla (Cardozo / Flushing, NY), and Brooklyn's coach is optimistic.

Despite winning nine women's titles in the past 12 years, it's been 14 seasons since Hunter College (7-7, 6-2 CUNY) has won a men's CUNY tournament. But the Hawks aren't worried. They're dipping back into the pot that earned the school two titles in 1987 and 1988 - Mitch Polstein, the coach who is returning for a second go around.

"I'm really excited to have this opportunity again," said the 1975 alum of the Upper East Side Manhattan school. "It's an exciting team and it seems like the league has improved."

Last year's #3, sophomore Vince Salomson (Molloy / Astoria, NY) is back for Hunter, but an entirely new cast will surround him. Polstein expects three freshmen to be near the top of the lienup: Anand Moses (Madison / Brooklyn, NY), Oded Meiron (Tel Aviv, Israel) and Richard Abraham (Toronto, Canada).

Another team on the rise is Lehman College (2-11, 2-6 CUNY), who returns the only four-year #1 player in the league, Greg Van Voorhis (NJ) along with sophomore Gabriel Crespo and hard-hitting Frank Rivera, who last played in 2000. Among the Lightning's top new starters are senior James Jackson (Westfield / Bronx, NY) and two juniors from Columbus HS, Igor Brickman and Jon Gegaj.

"Greg is mentally prepared to go out in his last season to playing his best tennis," said second-year head coach Steve Schulman. "I'm pleased by our depth this season."

At the City College of New York (2-9, 2-6 CUNY), first-year men's coach David Gartrelle is uncertain about one thing: how to juggle a talented lineup. Gartrelle inherits seven returnees from the last two seasons, including senior Michael Kessler (Curtis / Staten Island, NY) who won #1 doubles at the championships in 2000, the last time he played. Kessler, a bio-med student at CCNY, will probably slide down to number two to make room for junior Kinta Gumbs, a native of the island of St. Kitts who now resides in the Bronx. Gumbs, who transferred from York over the summer to take up engineering, was a runner-up in #1 doubles this past season.

The rest of the lineup should feature 2001's top three players, sophomore John Gomez (Edison / Queens, NY), junior Karthik Jothianandan (Roslyn / New York, NY) and junior Salman Shah (Syosset / New York, NY).

At John Jay College (1-8, 1-7 CUNY), new coach Sebastien Barrios has injected new life into the Bloodhound program. Barrois, a CUNYAC Champion in singles and doubles led the Bloodhounds to their last title in 1996. Since then, the team has struggled to maintain consistency.

The new skipper will rely on sophomore Dino DiSaverio (Humanities / Queens, NY) to hold down the top spot, followed by a combination of juniors - Hector Alzate (Health Professions / New York, NY), Luke Torres (Lafayette / Brooklyn, NY) and Vitale Zubri (Lincoln / Brooklyn, NY).

"I know that we're going to be stronger than last year when these guys were beginners," said Barrios. "We should win a few games and gain confidence as the season progresses."

Even though he returns five players from last season, York College (7-3, 5-3 CUNY) head coach Richard Packard is prepared to be a teacher this season.

"We're still feeling out this team," said the sixth-year coach. "We have fresh, young talent that needs time to develop. Plus, Ramon Smart is being put in a difficult position this season. But if anyone can do it, it's Ramon."

Smart, a sophomore from Rosedale, NY, was a great compliment to Gumbs last season, leading York to their first winning conference record under Packard. But that was at #2, now Smart will play number one and rely on experience to get him through. The rest of the Cardinals include sophomores Jay Jayasuriya (Richmond Hill, NY) and Wade Thomas (Francis Lewis / Cambria Heights, NY) along with junior Rohan Rawle (Brooklyn, NY). York, which does not have a women's team, will also have a woman on the team - Lisa Walters, a sophomore from Rosedale, NY (Kellenberg HS).

New York City Technical College (2-8, 1-7 CUNY), a new program last season, can be assured of one thing, head coach Devon Meyers and returnees Barry Chennankara (Columbus / Brooklyn, NY) and Craig Coppin (New Utrecht / Brooklyn, NY) will be more familiar with CUNYAC tennis than they were last season. Hopefully, that experience will help the eight newcomers on the roster. They include Fernando Andrade (Long Island City / Sunnyside, NY), Mui Ho Tsang (Seward Park / New York, NY) and Raphael Lynch (St. John's, Antigua).

The 2002 CUNY Athletic Conference / Hospital for Special Surgery Men's Tennis Championships will be played on May 10th & 11th at the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, Queens. It is also the last event on the CUNYAC 2001-02 calendar and usually has an effect on the outcome of the CUNYAC Commissioner's Cup race, determining the year's top athletic program.

CUNYAC

Results:  Final-Report 

2000 Championship