The Boston University men’s tennis team finished in fourth place at the America East Tournament at Yale Tennis Center on Saturday, wrapping up the 2008-09 season and the final matches for the team’s three seniors ‘-‘- Miron Nissim, Tim Sichler and Charles Weinstein.
After a sweeping 4-0 victory against the University of Hartford on Friday, the Terriers fell, 4-0, in the semifinals against top-seeded Stony Brook University and again in the consolation match against the University of Maryland-Baltimore County on Saturday.
First-year BU coach Rick Edelmann said, despite BU’s 4-0 victory against the University of Hartford (1-12-1), the America East match was not as easy as the regular-season match the Terriers (4-17) played against the Hawks three weeks ago.
‘We played well, but they came to play,’ he said. ‘We closed up the match, 4-0, but it was close and a hard-fought battle.’
Weinstein and junior Jeff Chudacoff sealed a close doubles victory, 8-6, and Nissim and Sichler won third doubles by default.
Saturday’s matches against Stony Brook (17-5) and UMBC (12-7) proved more difficult for the Terriers. BU surrendered all eight matches to its opponents.
Edelmann said the semifinal match against Stony Brook seemed promising when the Terriers were winning early in doubles, but the match headed south when singles play began.
Kring and junior James Bernstein lost, 8-5, in second doubles, and Nissim and Sichler lost, 4-8, in third doubles. Chudacoff, Sichler and freshman Regis Chang accumulated a total of five game wins in first, second and third singles, respectively.
‘In singles, they were just too tough, and they hit us back,’ Edelmann said. ‘We battled, but they were really hitting it to us hard.’
The Terriers were able to accrue more singles game wins in the consolation match against UMBC than in the match against Stony Brook, but it was not enough to secure third place among the five teams that participated in the tournament.
Edelmann attributed BU’s loss in the consolation match again to the sheer strength of UMBC’s singles play.
‘For singles, they just hit it to us, and we couldn’t really keep up, quite frankly,’ he said. ‘We battled for it. We definitely competed, but the teams were both well prepared, and they really took it to us.’
Edelmann, who joined BU in 2008 after coaching at Amherst College, the Florida Institute of Technology and Merrimack College, said he would miss the three departing seniors and wishes he had known them longer.
‘Our seniors will definitely be missed,’ he said. ‘This is only my first year, and I wish I had the seniors back for at least two more years. They will be missed by both the team and myself.’
The Terriers already have three incoming freshmen committed for next year and expect to hear about more potential talent within the next couple of days, Edelmann said.
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