The Concordia College Men's Tennis team headed down to Philadelphia this past weekend to compete in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) East Regional Tournament. The tournament is a singles and doubles individual tournament to qualify for the ITA National Tournament held in Mobile, AL in October.
Seven Clippers were seeded for the singles tournament including junior Andrey Boldarev, 2009 East Regional Champion, at the #1 seed. Newcomer Daniele Piludu, from Cagliari, Italy, was seeded second; Geza Bazula, a newcomer from Budapest Hungary was seeded fourth; Felix Missal was seeded fifth; David Tisserand, a freshman from Roquefort la Bedoule, France, was seeded sixth; Tamas Dobrotka seeded seventh; and Andreas Lindell was seeded eighth.
Eight Clippers reached round two, including non-seeded team member Ricardo Frey. The second round saw the first of many Clipper Vs Clipper match-ups as Daniele Piludu took on Ricardo Frey. Piludu took the match to advance into round three in straight sets and only losing one game. Piludu would join Boldarev, Dobrotka, Missal, Bazula, and Tisserand in the Elite 8 round as they all advanced in straight sets.
Andreas Lindell fell in the second round in three sets.
After taking the first set of his second round match 6-3, he and
his opponent were on serve through 5-5. Lindell was broken
and dropped the second set 5-7 forcing a deciding third set.
Lindell unfortunately fell in the third set 6-10.
The Elite 8 round saw two Clipper match-ups. The first was Daniele Piludu agaisnt David Tisserand. Tisserand broke Piludu in the first set and was able to take the set 6-4. Piludu then came back in the second set as took the set easily with only one game towards Tisserands side. With the match heading into a deciding pro-set to ten Piludu kept his momentum and took the third 10-6 to move ahead to the final four.
The second Clipper match-up was with Felix Missal and Geza
Bazula. Missal dominated in the first set 6-1 breaking Bazula
serve three times. Bazula 'returned the favor' in the second
set as he broke Missal's serve three times to take the set 6-1 to
force a third set for the match. With each going back and
forth in the third set Missal broke Bazula once and took the set
10-8 to move on to the final four.
Andrey Boladrev add little trouble in his third round match as he advanced with a 6-2; 6-0. Tamas Dobrotka unfortunately fell to his opponent from Queens College.
The final four of the tournament consisted of Boldarev, Missal and Piludu from the Clippers. Andrey Boldarev met his toughest match of the tournament so far as his first set went into a tie-breaker. Boldarev was victorious in the tie-breaker 7-3 to take the first set 7-6. The second set was an easier run for Boldarev as he was able to break his opponents serve twice to take the set and the match with a 6-2 set score. With the win Boldarev returns to the Championship match for the second year in a row.
Felix Missal and Daniele Piludu faced off against each other in the semifinals. Piludu took the first set 6-3 breaking Missal once. Piludu then repeated his efforts in the second set taking the match with a 6-3 set score.
The championship match saw Boldarev and Piludu facing off against each other. The first set stayed on serve through 5-5 until Boldarev broke Piludu and finished out the set with a 7-5 score. Boldarev then took control of the second set breaking Piludu twice to capture his second straight ITA East Regional Singles Championship.
On the doubles side of the tournament Boldarev and Pilidu teamed up for the first time and were seeded #1. Tamas Dobrotka and Geza bazula were seeded second and Andreas Lindell and David Tisserand were seeded fourth.
Each of the four doubles teams, including Felix Missal and
Ricardo Frey , were successful 
through the first round as they each broke their opponents at
least twice to advance. The second round of the doubles saw
the first Clipper match-up between the teams of Missal/Frey and
Dobrotka/Bazula. As the match went on each team stayed on
serve and the team of Dobrotka and Bazula broke Missal and Frey and
advanced on to the final four pairs.
Boldarev and Piludu along wtih Lindell and Tisserand both advanced with 8-3 scores. The two team faced off for a shot at the championship. The teams squared off and stayed on serve through three all when Boldarev and Piludu stepped up and took control of the rest of the match. Boldarev and Piludu took the mach with an 8-3 score.
Dobrotka and Tisserand breezed through their match defeating their opponents from Queens College 8-1.
With an all Clipper doubles final it would be a challenge for both. The first set went back and forth as each team stayed on serve. Boldarev and Piludu got a break point and were able to break Dobrotka and Tisserand to claim the first set 7-5. Boldarev and Piludu then went on through the second set breaking Dobrotka and Tisserand twice to claim the ITA East Regional Doubles Championship with a second set score of 8-3.
Andrey Boldarev and Daniele Piludu will next head down to Mobile, AL for the ITA National tournament October 14th-17th.
For the complete singles and doubles tournament results please click the links below.