St. John's University Athletics
St. John's University
Fall Columbia Classic
Mike Lampa Claims Two Titles At Fall Columbia Classic
10/11/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
NEW YORK - The St. John's men's tennis team put in a great showing at the annual Fall Columbia Classic this weekend as junior Mike Lampa highlighted the action by winning both a singles and doubles title at the event.
Lampa, who earned the second seed in the tournament's second singles flight, opened the event with a hard fought 2-6, 6-2, 1-0 (5) win over Fairleigh Dickinson's Yuri Gricheno, before defeating Princeton's Coleman Crutchfield in another three-set battle to advance to the semifinals. The Ocean Township, N.J., native ousted Fairfield's Dennis Zlobinksy 6-1, 6-4 to set up a finals matchup with the bracket's top seed, Ashok Narayana of Columbia. Lampa went on to defeat Narayana 6-4, 6-3 to claim the singles title and move on to doubles play.
As the third-seeded duo, Lampa paired with teammate Vasko Mladenov in the tournament's top doubles bracket. The pair opened the event with an 8-2 win over FDU's Arvis Berzins and Ibrahim Shams and defeated Princeton's Michael Lin and Yohei Shoji, 8-6, to set up an all-St. John's final against teammates Milo Hauk and Gustav Kallen. Hauk and Kallen defeated Columbia's Nathaniel Gery and John Yetimoglu, 8-5, and Penn's Zach Katz and Ivan Turudic, 8-4, to reach the finals. Lampa and Mladenov were able to continue their run with an 8-6 victory over their teammates to claim the win.
In other singles action, Hauk reached the title match of the top singles draw for the second-straight tournament, but was unable to defeat the flight's top seed and nationally-ranked Matija Pecotic of Princeton in the finals as the Ivy Leaguer claimed a 6-3, 6-2 win. Mladenov won his opening match of the top flight, but was ousted by Penn's Turudic in the quarterfinals. Kallen defeated Marist's Will Reznek 6-4, 6-2 and Columbia's Bert Vancura 6-2, 7-6(4) in the tournament's second flight, but was defeated by Narayana 6-2, 6-2 in the semis. Junior Matty Najfeld opened the third singles bracket with two straight-set victories, but was topped by eventual bracket champion Tizian Bucher of Columbia, 6-4, 6-4, in the semifinals.
Najfeld and senior Greg Streat teamed up to compete in the third doubles bracket, but were topped by a Princeton duo, 8-5, and sent to the consolation draw. The pair defeated Fordham's J.J. Tauil and Adrei Kulak, 8-1, and topped Monmouth's Laurence Heads and Carl Jedlinkski, 8-4, to claim the third doubles bracket consolation title.
The squad returns to action for its final fall tournament of the season when it travels upstate to Ithaca, N.Y., to compete at the annual USTA/ITA Regional Championships on the Cornell University campus from Oct. 13-17.
Players Mentioned
