In a weekend to forget for the Georgetown University men’s tennis team, the Hoyas lost all but three matches at the Orange and Blue Classic in Charlottesville, Va., hosted by the University of Virginia (UVA) Sept. 12-14. The Hoyas fell in straight sets in every singles match for an inauspicious opening to the year.
The three-day Orange and Blue Classic featured singles and doubles competition against players from UVA, Duke University, Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), the University of Pennsylvania (Penn) and Virginia Tech.
The Hoyas, who returned seven players from last season, faced UVA, Duke and VCU on Friday and Saturday, and Penn and Virginia Tech on Sunday. The weekend also marked the collegiate debuts of first-years Jonah Hill, from Potomac, Md.; Joshua Lamm-Bocharov, from Gibsonia, Pa.; and Cyrus Zia, from Washington, D.C.
On Friday, Georgetown faced UVA in six singles matches and Duke in one singles match and lost all seven in straight sets. Sophomore James O’Sullivan and Zia both had the most competitive appearances on the first day. O’Sullivan, after losing the first set 6-2 to UVA’s Jangjun Kim, fought back for a tiebreaker in the second set. He ultimately fell 7-6 (4) in a tiebreaker. Zia played UVA’s Mans Dahlberg closely, but fell 6-4, 6-2.
On Sunday, Lamm-Bocharov came close to forcing a decisive third set against Penn’s Nischal Spurling but lost the tiebreaker in the second set and the match.
O’Sullivan, on Sunday, played the tightest singles match of the weekend, taking Virginia Tech’s Ilyas Fahim to three sets before falling 4-6, 6-4, 5-7. Sophomore Jacob Mann also pushed opponents to the brink, winning the first set of three against Virginia Tech’s Drew Fishback and forcing a tiebreaker against VCU’s Mats Bredschneijder.
Other Hoyas were also unable to break through against their higher-ranked opponents from the other schools.
The doubles portion of the event was slightly better for Georgetown, picking up three wins across the weekend. The doubles matches were each one set. While the Hoyas lost their three doubles matches on Friday, they bounced back stronger in the final two days of the event.
Graduate student Burke Pablo and senior Zamaan Moledina had the most success as a doubles pairing, going 2-2. After a 6-2 Friday loss to UVA’s Dahlberg and Dylan Dietrich and a 6-3 loss early on Saturday to Duke’s Gerard Planelles Ripoll and Dylan Long, the pairing fought to a tiebreaker. Against Drew Fishback and Nicolas Iantosca of Virginia Tech, the Hoya pairing only allowed only one point in the tiebreak, winning the tiebreaker 7-6 (1).
Burke and Moledina returned to action on Sunday, taking on Penn’s Vojtech Vales and Spurling. The two sides could not be separated throughout the match, and again went to a tiebreaker. A back-and-forth tiebreaker ended with Burke and Moledina taking a mini-break for a 7-6 (5) win.
While Lamm-Bocharov and O’Sullivan played their singles matches tightly but were unable to win, they had more success as a doubles pairing. Taking on VCU’s Bredschneijder and Kostiantyn Mantach, the Hoyas comfortably took their third doubles match of the event. Lamm-Bocharov and O’Sullivan conceded only two sets for a 6-2 win for Georgetown.
Georgetown will continue its fall calendar Sept. 26 at the Blue Hen Invite in Newark, Del., hosted by the University of Delaware. In October, the Hoyas will split up, sending some players to the ITA Regional Championships in Blacksburg, Va., Oct. 9-13 — a qualifying tournament for the college tennis championship. Others will go to the Commander-in-Chief’s Challenge at Army-Navy Country Club in Arlington, Va., Oct. 10-12, where the Hoyas will take on players from three service academies — the U.S. Military Academy, the U.S. Naval Academy and the U.S. Air Force Academy.