Colonials upset men’s tennis in A-10 tournament

Team Says Goodbye to Four Seniors

Injuries can become the great x-factor when it comes to sports.

The men’s tennis team learned that the hard way as the fourth seeded Owl’s were defeated by the fifth-seeded Colonials of George Washington at the Atlantic-10 tournament held in Mason, Ohio. After winning the doubles point the Owl’s were swept 4-0 in singles play, including the No. 1 singles match where senior Filip Rams was forced to retire early due to a bad back.

The Owls end the season with a record of (9-10 overall, 4-2 A-10)

This match brought the Owl’s season to an abrupt end leaving coach Steve Mauro with a “what could’ve” been attitude about the tournament.

“It was unfortunate that (Filip Rams’) back was hurting him and he had to retire,” Mauro said. “If he was healthy I think we could’ve been playing Sunday in the finals.”

Two seniors participating in what would be their final matches, Dimitry Vizhunov and Mansur Gishkaev were leading their matches but were forced to end before the conclusion because George Washington had already clinched the match. Making Filip Rams’ back injury seem even more crucial because if one or two points went the Owl’s way they would’ve been able to capture crucial singles points. Mauro though would not let this loss to the eventual champions define his team’s season.

“We had a great season it was just unfortunate that it had to end the way it did,” Mauro said.

The Owl’s started off the doubles portion of the match with wins by brother Filip and Kacper Rams, as well as the team of Stanislav Stekolshikov and Gishkaev. After that though the team was unable to rally behind their injured number one player and get the victory.

With the season over the Cherry and White will now look to the future. Next year the Owl’s return junior Kacper Rams, sophomore Taylor Hairston and freshman Kristian Marquart who each boasted .500 winning percentages or better in the 2012 season.

Anthony Bellino can be reached at anthony.bellino@temple.edu.