For Immediate Release: April 9, 2005
Contact: John Hartrick (hartrick@binghamton.edu)
Phone: 607-777-6800

Binghamton men's tennis topples SUNY rival Stony Brook 6-1 on road

STONY BROOK, N.Y. - Visiting Binghamton (16-5) rolled to a surprisingly-easy 6-1 victory over conference rival Stony Brook (10-7) Saturday afternoon on the Seawolves' University Courts. The Bearcats captured the doubles point before winning five of the six singles matches. Binghamton, the two-time defending America East champion, has won 11 of its last 13 matches, including seven in a row.

"We won the doubles point and I think that really took the wind out of their sails," head coach Michael Starke said of the lopsided result. "We expect nothing less than a dogfight next time we see them. I thought we played with a lot of poise and professional character today. We fought like a championship team fights."

The doubles point came down the match at No. 2, where BU's tandem of freshman Alex Dobrin (Flushing, N.Y.) and junior Brian O'Connor (New Rochelle, N.Y.) broke serve at 7-8 to force a tiebreak and then trailed 6-3 in the tiebreak before staving off several match points to win 9-7.

In singles, Dobrin clinched the team win with his 6-2, 6-4 triumph at No. 3. Earlier, junior Edwin Gerard (Bayside, N.Y.) posted a straight-set win at No. 5 and junior Richemn Mourad (Sao Paulo, Brazil) received a win when his opponent retired with an injury. Dobrin raised his record to 22-5 overall, 17-3 in dual matches.

Though the team victory was clinched, the match at No. 1 was a heavyweight battle between two nationally-ranked players. Binghamton sophomore Dan Hanegby (Herzliya, Israel) outlasted Stony Brook's Jan Krejci, 11-9 in a third-set super tiebreak. Hanegby saved a match point at 8-9 before claiming the win with a crosscourt passing shot on the forehand. Hanegby, 26-7 overall, is No. 87 in the ITA national rankings, while Krejci was No. 100 earlier in the fall.

O'Connor posted a straight-set win at No. 6 - his 18th of the season.

The Bearcats next host America East foe UMBC on April 15.

DOUBLES
1. Krejci/Meir (SB) def. Hanegby/Mohamed (BU), 8-2
2. Dobrin/O'Connor (BU) def. Crooks/Robitaille (SB), 9-8 (9)
3. Mourad/Gerard (BU) def. Kortum/Carpenter (SB), 8-5

SINGLES
1. Dan Hanegby (BU) def. Jan Krejci (SB), 7-6 (14-12), 2-6, 1-0 (11-9)
2. Richemn Mourad (BU) def. Tal Meir (SB), 3-0, ret.
3. Alex Dobrin (BU) def. Michael Crooks (SB), 6-2, 6-4
4. David Kortum (SB) def. Faisal Mohamed (BU), 7-5, 6-1
5. Edwin Gerard (BU) def. Jean-Francois Robitaille (SB), 6-0, 6-4
6. Brian O'Connor (BU) def. James Carpenter (SB), 6-4, 6-3