Complete Results
MADISON, N.J. – The Manhattanville men's tennis team got its 2011 fall season started this weekend at Drew University, as the Valiants were one of four teams to take part in the round-robin Drew Fall Classic on Saturday and Sunday.
Senior Michael Capozzi (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic/San Judas Tadeo) was the top overall performer for Manhattanville at the event, as the senior went 2-1 at both the first-singles and first-doubles flights for four overall wins. Sophomore Gabriel Pinto (Quito, Ecuador/Colegio Internacional SEK-Ecuador) and freshman Gabriel Berlingeri (Bayamon, Puerto Rico/Colegio San Ignacio de Loyola) both had three wins over the weekend, as Pinto had two of his three wins alongside Capozzi in doubles play while Berlingeri earned two of his three wins on the singles court.
Capozzi went 2-1 at the top-singles flight, falling to Drew's Raul Smego but getting the better of Baruch's Artem Gorbachevskiy and Ithaca's Jimmy Newton. After falling in a supertiebreaker to Smego by a 6-3, 4-6, (10-1) score, he came back to defeat Gorbachevskiy in the same fashion, winning the breaker 10-5 after the players split the first two sets, 7-5 for Capozzi and 6-3 for his opponent. The two-time Freedom Conference Player of the Year kept things simple in his third match, beating Newton in straight sets, 6-2, 6-2.
At the first-doubles flight, Capozzi and Pinto won their first and third matches to emerge with a winning record. The pair started out with an 8-5 win over Ithaca's Newton and Dave Andersen, then after a close loss to Drew the duo came back to defeat Baruch's Gorbachevskiy and Christopher Jenkins, 8-3.
Berlingeri also performed well in his collegiate debut, losing once at fourth singles but winning both of his fifth-singles matches. After the initial loss at the higher flight, Berlingeri took down Drew's Ryan Johnson (6-2, 6-1) and Baruch's Damon Ye (6-0, 6-1) easily in straight sets. He also teamed with senior Dean Tahir (Yonkers, N.Y./Saunders) at second doubles, getting one win with an 8-5 victory over the tandem of Stephan Muller and Phllip Bleustein of Baruch.
In addition to his doubles success, Pinto went 1-2 in his three singles matches, going 0-2 at the second-singles flight and winning once at third singles. He dropped decisions to Drew's Matt Brisotti and Baruch's Jenkins at second singles, but also came back to beat Ithaca's Dan Young at third singles, 4-6, 6-1, (12-10).
Sophomore Alfonso Hidrobo (Quito, Ecuador/Academia Cotopoxi) also had one victory at both sixth singles and third doubles, as he got the best of Drew's Tommy Buschi, 6-1, 6-4, and also teamed with junior Karim Mahmoud (Cairo, Egypt/Nefertari American International School) for an 8-6 win over Drew's Buschi and Vinnie Mahon.
Manhattanville will next participate in its only dual match of the fall season on Thursday, as the Valiants welcome Coast Guard to the Manhattanville Courts for a 3:30 p.m. match.
