St. John's University Athletics
Bojic Leads Red Storm At Columbia Classic
10/11/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
NEW YORK - Junior transfer Stefan Bojic and the St. John's men's tennis team wrapped up action at the annual Fall Columbia Classic on Sunday evening. Bjoic, the No. 3 seed in his respective bracket, won four matches to take the "B" singles bracket title.
Bojic opened play by defeating Princeton's Ryan Kim 6-3, 6-2 on Friday afternoon, before returning to action to defeat another Ivy Leaguer, Ian Laster, from host institution Columbia on Saturday morning. Bojic defeated Laster 6-2, 4-6, 1-0(6).
The Serbian went on to defeat Marist's Von Nordheim 6-4, 7-6(2) in Saturday's nightcap to advance to a finals matchup against Tizian Bucher from Columbia. Bucher, who already ousted St. John's Matty Najfeld in the opening round of play, was looking for his second win over a Red Storm opponent. After dropping the opening set 4-6, Bojic rebounded to win the next two 6-2, 6-2 and win the "B" singles bracket. Najfeld won one match in the consolation bracket before being defeated by Princeton's Ravy Yegya Raman 6-1, 6-0.
Junior Milo Hauk was the tournament's top-seed in the "A" singles bracket and opened play with a victory, as Fairleigh Dickinson's Ibrahim Shams retired in the first set. Hauk then ousted Columbia's Cyril Bucher 6-2, 6-3 in the quarterfinals to advance to the semis, but Bucher's teammate and third-seeded Kevin Kung dropped Hauk 4-6, 6-0, 0-1(7).
Senior Pavel Cerny and sophomore Mike Lampa also both competed in the "A" singles draw. Cerny defeated Amherst's Robbie Sorrell 6-4, 7-6 in the round of 16, before dropping fourth-seeded Nathaniel Gery of Columbia 6-2, 6-4 to advance to the semifinals. Ivan Turudic from Penn, the eventual bracket champion, had already defeated Lampa and was looking to end Cerny's run in the semis. Turudic defeated Cerny in a great match by a margin of 6-7(4), 7-6(4), 1-0(6).
After being dropped to the consolation bracket, Lampa tore through his opponents to win three-straight matches and win the "A" consolation draw. Lampa defeated Monmouth's Harveer Bhalla 6-2, 6-0, Sorrell 4-6, 6-2, 1-0 (5), and Princeton's Coleman Crutchfield 7-5, 7-6 to win the bracket.
Both doubles' teams competing in the "A" bracket lost in the opening round but would advance to the finals of the consolation bracket where they chose not to compete against each other.
Najfeld and Dustin Goldenberg were also knocked out of doubles action in the first round of the "B" bracket, but would go on to win their next two matches and win the consolation bracket final over Amherst's pairing 9-8(3). Goldenberg also reached the semifinals of the "C" Singles Draw.
The St. John's men's tennis team wraps up action in its 2010 fall schedule when it travels to New Haven, Conn., to compete in the ITA Regional hosted by Yale University. The Regionals will be held from Oct. 14-18.
