The University of Dayton men’s tennis team started its 2012-2013 season at the Wright State Invitational hosted by Wright State University from Friday, Sept. 21, through Sunday, Sept. 23, at Arthur Fisher Park in Dayton.
“It is our first tournament, so we didn’t know what to expect,” said interim head coach Leah Hottois, who is filling in while the program interviews coaching candidates. “We can do better in the future, and we have something to work [with] to move to the next level.”
On Friday, sophomore Aidan Koross and junior Andrew Hanley were the lone doubles team to win a first-round match in defeating sophomores Pierce Kohls and Cameron Johnson of Northern Kentucky University 8-6 in Flight A play. In the semifinals, the Flyers lost 8-5 against junior Hayden Joblin and senior Jamison Clark of Wright State.
The team of sophomores Josh Malyon and Colin Bernier fell against freshman Robert Skolik and senior Warren Race of Eastern Illinois University in round one of Flight B Doubles. The EIU team won the match 8-6. In the back-draw match, Malyon and Bernier beat junior Michal Lyzwa and freshman Marc Sodini of Wright State 8-1 to qualify for the back-draw finals on Sunday morning. There, the Flyers lost the match 8-2 against freshman Walid Gtari and junior Tyler Johnston of Ohio Dominican University.
In Flight C, a pair of Dayton teams ended up reaching the back-draw finals. Freshman Kyle McDonald and junior Enzo Milano, along with senior Robert Salcedo and sophomore Devin Jones, lost their first-round matches before winning its back-draw semi-finals, but did not face off because of McDonald and Milano’s single competition commitments on Sunday.
Malyon in singles play was the Flight B back-draw champion, defeating senior Gustavo Rueda of the University of Northwestern Ohio 8-3. He advanced there with an 8-6 win against EIU freshman Rui Silva in the semifinals.
The singles portion of the tournament began on Saturday with Koross picking up a pair of straight set victories over EIU junior Kevin Bauman in round one and Lyzwa in the quarterfinals of Flight A. However, he was forced to retire in his semifinal match against Gtari because of an injury.
“I feel like I performed well in the beginning of the shootout but got injured towards the end so I didn’t perform 100 percent,” Koross said.
Also in Flight A, Hanley went head-to-head against sophomore Lauri Makikali of Wright State in the opening round. Hanley won the match in three sets but fell against Kohls in the quarterfinals failing to win a game in losing 6-0, 6-0.
Milano in Flight D advanced to the semifinals before being defeated by ODU senior Alex Hager in straight sets. He reached the quarterfinals with a two sets to one win over senior Jarred Gable of Walsh University.
Jones also made the semifinals in Flight C for Dayton, but was forced to retire while trailing 4-1 in the opening set against sophomore Emin Alpan of UNO.
The next tournament on the team’s schedule is the Ball State Fall Invitational at Ball State University from Friday, Sept. 28 through Sunday, Sept. 30 in Muncie, Ind.
