The men's tennis team headed south last weekend for the Blue/Gray Collegiate Invitational in Montgomery, Ala. The 52nd-ranked Bears posted a record of 2-1 for the weekend, extending their record to 10-2.
The tournament featured 16 of the nation's top college teams, and though the Bears were unseeded, they were determined to do well. In the first round, Brown was drawn into the bracket against the No. 1 seed, Virginia Commonwealth University. Despite the bad luck, Brown fought hard before falling 4-2.
In the consolation bracket, the Bears rebounded, dominating 30th-ranked Fresno State University 4-0. Led by co-captain Ben Brier '04, who went 6-0 on the weekend, Brown kept the momentum rolling, blanking North Carolina State University 4-0.
"The whole team played on a different level than it had the whole season," said Brier.
Doubles, the team's strength all year, continued to be a major force on the court. Brown did not lose a doubles point all weekend and in fact did not lose a doubles match against any team.
"It was a bit shocking for us how well we played doubles all weekend," said Head Coach Jay Harris.
Against 11th-ranked VCU Thursday, Brown doubles came out blazing. The Bears swept the doubles point, dominating the VCU teams. Brown's first doubles team, the seventh-ranked duo of co-captain Jamie Cerretani '04 and Adil Shamasdin '05, controlled the 39th-ranked team of Florian Marquardt and Arnoud Lecloerec, handing the VCU team an 8-4 loss.
Brown's other doubles teams followed the lead of Cerretani and Shamasdin. Co-captain Kris Goddard '04 teamed with Zach Pasanen '06 to defeat Pedro Nieto and Marton Ott 8-5, and Brier and Nick Goldberg '06 came out ahead of Fransesc Lleal and Sergi Arumi 8-3.
Despite Brown's excellent doubles play, VCU justified its number-one seed with standout singles performances. In singles play, only Brier won his match, defeating Marquardt 6-2, 6-4. Cerretani, ranked No. 100 in the nation, suffered a 6-1, 2-6, 6-0 defeat at the hands of 84th-ranked Nieto.
Brier played excellent tennis throughout the entire weekend, winning all three of his singles matches and teaming with Goldberg for three doubles victories. In singles, Brier did not drop a single set in his three matches against VCU, Fresno State and NC State.
"(Brier) could have easily been on the All-Tournament team. It's huge to have one of our captains come out and play that well," Harris said.
Brown came back in the consolation bracket Friday with something to prove. Matched against a team ranked over 20 places higher than theirs, the Bears knew they were in for a challenge. What they did not expect was a 4-0 victory.
Doubles once again came out on fire for Brown. Goddard and Pasanen dominated their opponents in 8-2 victories, and Brier got another of his six wins by teaming with Goldberg to defeat Alex Krohn and Andy Sinn 8-2. With the doubles point clinched, Cerretani and Shamasdin did not finish their match.
In singles, Brown needed to win only three matches to secure the victory. The Bears took the first set in all six singles matches, and Brier quickly added his fourth win of the tournament over Sergui Modoc 7-6, 6-3. Eric Thomas '07 added a huge win at number four singles, defeating Charles Irie 7-6, 6-3, and Shamasdin closed out the match with a 7-6, 4-6, 6-2 victory over Stefan Suta. Though he did not finish his match, Cerretani was leading 51st-ranked Greg Shearer 7-6, 6-5 when play was stopped. Pasanen and Goldberg also did not finish their matches.
Saturday brought Brown's final match of the tournament, one that had special meaning for the juniors and seniors on the team. Jon Choboy, currently the head coach at NC State, was the coached at Brown until the summer of 2002 and coached all of the juniors and seniors currently playing for Brown.
Nostalgia aside, Brown doubles once again began on the attack. As in the match against Fresno State, Brown's top doubles team of Cerretani and Shamasdin was unable to finish its match due to the extremely strong play of the other two teams. Goddard and Pasanen dominated Val Banada and Dennis Myers 8-3 while Brier and Goldberg defeated Conor Taylor and Andre Iriarte 8-3.
Again, Brown needed only three singles matches to clinch the win. Brier won his sixth match of the weekend, defeating Jon Davis 6-4, 6-0. Pasanen earned his first singles win of the weekend, coming out ahead of Myers 6-1, 6-4. For the second match in a row, Shamasdin clinched the win by defeating Banada 6-2, 6-2. Cerretani, Thomas and Goldberg did not finish their matches.
Brown returns to the courts to play the University of Maryland-Baltimore County Friday at the Pizzitola Sports Center.
