Men's Tennis Falls On Day One Of BIG EAST Championship

TAMPA, Fla. (April 17, 2008) - The ninth-seeded University of Connecticut men's tennis team fell to eighth-seeded Villanova, 4-2, in the play-in match of the BIG EAST Championships Thursday afternoon on the P.E. Courts at the University of South Florida. The Huskies end their season with a 6-9-1 record.

Joe Goldstein (Tucson, Ariz.) and Christian Malerba (Derby, Conn.) were the lone Husky winners of the day, though Tom Cook (Pittsford, N.Y.) took his singles match through three sets and a tiebreaker before it was called. Villanova had already earned the four points necessary for the win.

Goldstein defeated Dimitri Chimerakis, 7-6 (5), 6-4, in flight one to finish his sophomore season with a 5-13 record in dual match play. Malerba, whose season was marked by an eight-match win streak, was victorious in flight five with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Brett Tobin.

Doubles
1. Chimerakis/Maher (VU) vs. Goldstein/Shualer (UConn), 6-6 DNF
2. Diosick/Alenik(VU) def. Malerba/Michaels (UConn), 8-5
3. Shulaen/Lesser (VU) def. Cook/Marcus (UConn), 8-4

Singles
1. Joe Goldstein (UConn) def. Dimitri Chimerakis (VU), 7-6 (5), 6-4
2. Brian Maher (VU) def. Ben Schueler (UConn), 6-3, 6-1
3. Trenton Alenik (VU) def. Joey Michaels (UConn), 6-7 (4), 6-1, 6-0
4. David Sheehan (VU) def. Andrew Marcus (UConn), 3-6, 7-6 (3), 6-1
5. Christian Malerba (UConn) def. Brett Tobin (VU), 6-4, 6-2
6. Alex Lesser (VU) vs. Tom Cook (UConn), 6-2, 3-6, 6-6 (5-5) DNF