Fazli and Chung Lead the Way in Villanova

Raiders duo win their flight as Colgate notches 8-2 doubles record

VILLANOVA, Pa. – The men's tennis team kicked off their fall campaign with a triumphant weekend at the Villanova Invitational, highlighted by sophomores John Fazli and Aidan Chung winning their flight as part of 15 total Colgate wins.

A total of seven teams were in attendance this weekend, including two out-of-conference competitors in Villanova and Saint John's University, and four Patriot League foes that allowed Colgate to see how well they stack up against their intra-league adversaries.

"The boys had a very strong debut weekend at Villanova, packing in a ton of tennis in two days," Head Coach Bobby Pennington said. "It was nice to also get a preview of four Patriot League teams in Lehigh, Loyola, Lafayette and Bucknell, but the biggest takeaways are the better attitudes, better culture, and the better doubles play than we had last year."

HOW IT HAPPENED

Friday
A successful start to the weekend saw all three of Colgate's doubles pairings take home wins. In the top-flighted blue draw, Josh Israel and Jerome Falcon defeated the duo from Lehigh, 6-4, in doubles play. Falcon dropped his singles bout to Lehigh's Matt Kleiman, but in the upset of the tournament, Israel was able to take down Patriot League Rookie of the Year and second-team All-League Marc Blekhman to advance Colgate to the semifinals.

Aidan Lee/Ben Graham were leading Lehigh 1-0 in the white draw middle flight when their match was suspended due to rain. In the wildcat draw flight three, Benito Vlassis/Parker McGowan were beating Loyola 1-0 and Tejas Gupta/Mikey Weitz were up 1-0 on Lehigh. The round-robin draw saw Chung/Fazli advance to the semifinals after defeating the duo from Lafayette.

Saturday
Israel and Falcon placed fourth in the top flight of competition after falling to Bucknell's doubles pairing and dropping out of the third-place matchup due to injury. The duo of Lee/Graham split the day with a win and a loss, losing to the Mountain Hawks and punching their ticket to the fifth-place game in the white draw after defeating a team from Villanova.

The Vlassis/McGowan pairing punched their ticket to the third-place game after beating Loyola but bowing out in the semifinals to Bucknell. Gupta/Weitz were in the midst of fighting their way out of the back draw, leading Lafayette when the match was suspended due to rain. In round robin play, Chung/Fazli were slated to play for the top spot in the flight but the match was rained out.

In total, the Raiders went an impressive 8-2 in doubles play to go along with a 7-11 record in singles matchups. Standout pairing Israel/Falcon placed fourth in the highest flight, and the duo of Fazli/Chung were crowned champions of the fourth flight.

UP NEXT
Colgate returns to action next Friday, Sept. 22, when they travel to Binghamton to play in the three-day Binghamton Invitational.

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Players Mentioned

Aidan Chung: 6' 0"; Sophomore

John Fazli: 6' 2"; Sophomore

Ben Graham: 6' 3"; Junior

Tejas Gupta: 5' 10"; Junior

Josh Israel: 5' 8"; Junior

Aidan Lee: 6' 0"; Sophomore

Benito Vlassis: 6' 2"; Junior

Mikey Weitz: 5' 9"; Junior

Parker McGowan: 5' 10"; First Year

Jerome Falcon: 5' 10"; First Year

Players Mentioned

Aidan Chung
: 6' 0"; Sophomore

John Fazli
: 6' 2"; Sophomore

Ben Graham
: 6' 3"; Junior

Tejas Gupta
: 5' 10"; Junior

Josh Israel
: 5' 8"; Junior

Aidan Lee
: 6' 0"; Sophomore

Benito Vlassis
: 6' 2"; Junior

Mikey Weitz
: 5' 9"; Junior

Parker McGowan
: 5' 10"; First Year

Jerome Falcon
: 5' 10"; First Year