April 29, 2004

Coral Gables, Fla. - The St. John's men's tennis advanced to the semifinals of the 2004 BIG EAST Tournament this afternoon with an easy 4-0 sweep over Rutgers in the quarterfinal round. The Red Storm (12-9) will face the top seeded Virginia Tech Hokies in the semifinals tomorrow at the Neil Schiff Tennis Complex.

After an hour and a half rain delay, the Red Storm pulled ahead early and never faltered. After taking the early 1-0 lead with a win in doubles, St. John's took the No.1, 2, and 6 singles matches, en route to the 4-0 win.

St. John's No. 2 doubles pair of David Nylen and Claudio Halim beat Harry Cicma and Gabe Adams 8-2 and were followed by an 8-6 win by Morgan Bauer and Todd Goldberg over Alex Tervooren and Matt Fawcett at No. 3 for the first point of the match. Rutgers' team of Tyler Deming and Gordy Milchutsky took the No. 1 match 8-5 over Louis Desmarteaux and Aurelio Di Zazzo.

Desmarteaux bounced back in the No. 1 singles match, beating Deming 7-5, 6-4 for the 2-0 lead. After sweeping the first set 6-0, Nylen hung on to win the second set by slim 7-5 margin for the win over Milchutsky at No. 2. Claudio Halim took his No. 6 match easily, beating Adams 6-2, 6-4, clinching the match for St. John's.

Di Zazzo and Stocker each won their first set, before the Red Storm win ended the match in the midst of the their second sets. Bauer was up 1-0 in the third, after splitting the first two sets at No. 5.

Tomorrow's match against No. 47 Virginia Tech is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m.