St. John’s Men Fall to Georgetown in Big East Tourney
The St. John’s men’s tennis team lost its first BIG EAST Championship match in more than four years on Friday morning, falling to Georgetown 4-2 at the Cayce Tennis & Fitness Center in Cayce, S.C.
St. John’s was seeking its fourth consecutive BIG EAST tournament title this weekend.
Georgetown got on top in doubles action with a pair of victories at the No. 1 and No. 3 positions in doubles play. Peter Beatty and Mac Rechan of Georgetown topped Ognjen Trejgut and Alan Nunez Aguilera, 6-3, in the top spot while Roberto Livi and Andrei Crapcenco fell, 6-4, at the No. 3.
Luka Sucevic and Dusan Vukicevic won their doubles matchup at the second position, topping the Hoyas’ Jordan Portner/Marco Lam, 6-3. This is the first time this pair has played together all year.
Needing a win in singles play, Vukicevic delivered at the No. 5 spot for St. John’s. The sophomore won the first singles matchup of the day with a convincing, 6-1, 6-3, win over Mac Rechan to tie the match score at one.
Georgetown’s Peter Beatty followed up with a straight-sets win over Livi at the No. 1, 6-4, 6-2.
At the No. 2, Nunez Aguilera showed the Johnnies fight with his, 6-4, 6-4, win over Jordan Portner, effectively tying the team match again.
The Hoyas got another crucial win at the No. 6 spot when Ian Witmer beat Trejgut, 7-6 (2-7), 6-2, to put Georgetown up a point in the match.
Georgetown closed out the match with a Marco Lam win at the No. 3 spot, over the Johnnies’ Sucevic, 3-6, 7-5, 6-2. Sucevic got out on top in the first set before Lam closed out, 7-5, in the second. Finally in the third set, Sucevic suffered a leg injury that proved to be his downfall. The sophomore showed a ton of resiliency as he finished out the match, but could not overcome the pain.
The Johnnies will take on Villanova in a consolation match on Saturday, April 29, at 12:30 p.m.
