Tennis teams ready for final fall tournament

The men's and women's tennis teams continued their fall seasons with tournaments last weekend. The men were at the Yale Invite and now prepare for this weekend's ITA Regional Championships in Hanover, N.H.

The first day of the Yale Invite went deep into the night, as bad weather forced most of the action indoors. Coach Michael Bates said the change of location didn't hinder his team.

"We got there at eight in the morning and didn't get back until midnight," he said. "We're used to playing indoors, though, so it wasn't a big change for us."

The fall season is heavy on individual play, preparing each member for the team season that begins in the spring. Bates said he's looking to see who has good chemistry so the team is closely knit.

"We look to see who can play doubles together and who our better combinations are," he said. "We got a good idea through these tournaments, and it's to get the team to bond during these trips."

Bates said his team's play has improved since the beginning of this season.

"We're all playing better from where we started in the fall," he said.

Weather caused the B flight final to be canceled, where junior Mikhail Sudakov was to battle Princeton's Matt Siow.

"The rain delay didn't allow us to finish, but he had a couple of good wins there," Bates said. Sudakov defeated Yale's Daniel Hoffman, 6-4, 6-2 in the first round and John Lucero of Army in the second round, 6-1, 3-6, before taking down Erik Blumenkranz, also of Yale, 4-6, 7-5, in the semifinal.

While Bates wasn't disappointed with his team, he singled out Sudakov as his star of the invite.

"Everyone did OK. No one did great," he said. "No one stood out as much as Mikhail did."

The ITA regional tournament is the last tournament of the fall season.

"It's the big tournament of the season," Bates said. "It's everyone in our region, so it's about 36 schools . 120 players in the tournament all in one large bracket."

Bates says his players are capable of playing with the top players in the region.

"I'm just looking for improvement from last weekend. It doesn't matter who we're playing against. We just go out and fight hard, and we have the mental attitude that we can do it."

The women were also in action last weekend, as they traveled to Niagara for the Niagara Invitational. Bates was with the men at Yale, so assistant coach Leo Mochizuki, a player on the men's team last year, went to Niagara with the women.

Junior Maria Barousse took the 'A' singles spot from injured sophomore Manuela Marin-Salcedo and took second place, falling 0-6, 3-6 to Hilary Hansen of Niagara in the final. Freshman Amanda Pallikunnel reached the 'B' semifinal, before falling to Niagara's Alyssa Lucas, 4-6, 3-6. The duo of Barousse and Pallikunnel was able to rebound from its singles losses and defeat Hansen and Lucas in the 'A' doubles final, 8-6.

Because it is the fall season, Bates said there isn't a big difference who the 'A' player is.

"Right now it doesn't really matter who our 'A' player is because it's the fall, but it's nice to have Maria be able to step up and take down better competition," he said. "It's good experience for her."

The women are off this week and face Mercyhurst next weekend before heading New Haven, C.T. for regionals in two weeks.