St. John’s Men’s Tennis Drops Fairfield, 6-1

Friday, March 12

Queens, N.Y. (STJ Tennis Courts)

12 p.m.

St. John's University

Fairfield

3/12/2021 4:36:00 PM | Men's Tennis

Red Storm remains unbeaten in 2021

By: Kenny Conrade

QUEENS, N.Y. – The St. John's men's tennis team defeated Fairfield on Friday afternoon, 6-1, in its first outdoor match of the season at the St. John's Tennis Courts.

The win marks the fourth of the week for the Red Storm, as Head Coach Dillon Pottish's squad improves to 5-0 in 2021. The Johnnies took all six singles duels on the afternoon but dropped the doubles point to the Stags. Through five contests, St. John's is yet to lose a team point in single play.

Ignacio Garcia and Giuseppe De Camelis played a hard-fought match with Lewis Edwards and Stathis Tsiranidis on the No. 1 doubles court, but fell, 6-4. Over on the No. 2, it was Djuro Opacic and Evan Felcher falling in a tiebreaker, 7-6, to Keean Shah and Jonathan Olive-Blanco. Charlie James and Louis-nils Michel picked up the lone doubles victory for the Red Storm, defeating Allan Magid and Stefan Mitrovic, 6-4.

The doubles sets marked the first team point lost by the Red Storm this season, as they went into singles trailing, 1-0. Opacic took the No. 1 court once again for the Johnnies and went to three sets for the first time all season but prevailed, winning the tiebreaker, 10-6. The victory marked the eighth consecutive win for the senior from Serbia dating back to last season.

On the No. 2 court, Garcia took down Olive-Blanco in straight sets, 7-6 and 6-2. The victory marked the first for Garcia since the opening match against Sacred Heart, where he won on the No. 1 court. Michel dominated the No. 3 court for the Red Storm, winning in straight sets, 6-2 and 6-2, to mark his third singles win of the season and second in that position.

The No. 4-6 courts were dominated by the Johnnies, as they only surrendered seven points against and won all three matchups in straight sets. James took his match on the No. 4 court, dropping Shah, 6-2 and 6-1, to improve to 3-0 in 2021. Dating back to last season, the junior is now 21-2 in singles play.

On the No. 5 court, Felcher defeated Mitrovic in straight sets, 6-2 and 6-1, to grab his fourth victory of the season. Finally, on the No. 6 court, De Camelis won easily, 6-1 and 6-0. The sophomore from Italy is now 17-4 in singles play in his collegiate career.

Following a busy week, the Johnnies are off until next Saturday as they will next take on Rider in Lawrenceville, N.J. The Red Storm then closes out the month at home against Army on March 25 followed by a date in Connecticut with Boston University on March 28.