The Clippers hosted St. John's University in tennis action today.
The Clippers, coming fresh off of their second consecutive CACC Championship and in preparation of the up coming NCAA Tournament, started off well taking two out the three doubles matches.
Tamas Dobrotka and Geza Bazula, hit at the number one doubles fight and ran into some trouble early on court. With both Clippers broken early the Clipper pair found themselves down 3-0. Bazula and Dobrotka then were able to get a game back to make it 1-3. The pair was then broken twice more to go down 1-6. One more game went to the Clippers as they made it 2-7. In the next game the Dobrotka and Bazula fought hard as they were starting to climb back but even after four deuces and a couple of advantage points the pair fell in the game and dropped the match 2-8.
Andreas Lindell and David Tisserand were on a roll to start their number three doubles match as they were up 3-0. The pair then split the next six games as they still held their three game lead. Lindell and Tisserand then were able to hold their next service game to go up 7-3 and then broke their opponent for the 8-3 win.
Andrey Boldarev teamed up with Ricardo Frey at the number two doubles flight for the day. Boldarev and Frey started off with a 3-0 lead. The Clipper pair then split the next six games as the Red Storm from St. John's was working hard at a comeback. Boldarev and Frey were up 6-3 before splitting the next two games to 7-4. With the pair just one game away from the match they continued to play well but the Red Storm came thundering back. The Clipper pair dropped the next two games and it was now time to step it up once more. As the Clippers were on the receiving end of the serve in the next game they worked hard to make their return shots count. With the score at 30-40 in favor of the Clippers, Frey hit a return shot that could not be matched and Boldarev and Frey took the match 8-6.
Andrey Boldarev was the first off the court in singles as he hit in the number one singles flight. Boldarev went up 3-2 in the first set staying on serve. With a service break, Boldarev moved ahead to 5-2 before finishing the set 6-3. Boldarev's second set started off with a 3-0 lead. The next six games were then split on serve and Boldarev came away with a 6-3 second set win.
Geza Bazula struggled to start his match as he faced a 0-3 deficit. Bazula then split the next two games before coming up big with two more games to bring the score to 3-4. Bazula then took the lead to go up 5-4 in the first. The first set was then pushed to a tie breaker. On serve, the points went but Bazula missed one point and fell in the tie breaker 6-8. Bazula continued to push in the second set but saw himself down 3-4. Two games later, Bazula fell in the second 3-6.
David Tisserand, hit at the number three singles spot and fell quickly in the first set 1-6. Tisserand pushed back in the second taking a small lead. With the second set at 6-5 the set was then pushed to a tiebreaker. This tiebreaker went the way of the Clippers 8-6 and a third set was on schedule. Tisserand came out with guns blazing in the third as he took a 4-1 lead. With two more games to Tisserand's name he came away with the match win as he posted a 6-1 third set victory.
Tamas Dobrotka took a 2-1 lead to start his singles match at the number four position. Dobrotka then found himself a game behind at 3-4 but turned it around on the next two and was back on top 5-4. Three games later Dobrotka closed the set for the 7-5 win. The second set went a little smoother for Dobrotka as he took a 4-1 lead. With a service break and a hold Dobrotka captured the Clippers fifth team point with the 6-1 second set win.
Andreas Lindell kicked off his match with a 3-0 lead in the first set. Lindell then split the next six games for the 6-3 win. Lindell found himself down one game but still on serve in the second set 4-3. A couple of shots just missed for Lindell and he fell in the second set 4-6 and was forced to play a third set super tiebreaker. Lindell unfortunately missed a few shots in the tiebreaker and fell 3-10.
Ricardo Frey rounded out the Clippers line-up for the day and found trouble from the beginning. Frey fell in the first set 2-6. With his determination on court, Frey turned it around in the second set and took a 4-1 lead. With three more games under his belt Frey pushed the match to a third set super tiebreaker with 6-2 second set win. Frey was on point though 5-5 in the tiebreaker but unfortunately missed a few and dropped the set 5-10.
The Clippers defeated the Red Storm 5-4 for their last regular season dual match.
The Clippers will head to the NCAA Tournament starting with the Regional brackets on May 1st through May 3rd.