This past weekend, the Villanova men’s tennis team traveled to the SJU Tennis Complex in Merion Station, Pennsylvania, to play in its second tournament of this season at the 12th annual Saint Joseph’s Invitational. There were nine teams competing, including Delaware, Drexel, Jefferson, Lehigh, Mary Washington, Morgan State and NJIT. The Wildcats had their doubles teams competing, as well as all 13 players competing in the single-draws matches. The Wildcats had a very successful weekend, with an overall champion, consolation doubles champion, one finalist and one consolation draw winner in singles.  

Senior Matthew Jones and sophomore Josh Robinson returned this weekend as a pair after being 12-5 in doubles matches last spring, which made them the most successful doubles tandem of the season. Also, junior Alex Kim and sophomore Ryan Nguyen teamed up for a doubles match after going 2-2 at the Villanova Invitational at the beginning of the season. Robinson represented the Wildcats in the top singles flight against Saint Joseph’s Nathan Perrone. On top of this, the Wildcats had two players in Flight 2 singles, three in Flight 3 and seven in Flight 4.  

After Friday, Sept. 24, Villanova had four players advance to the second round of singles draws. There were four more players who had a bye, so eight players continued into the next round on Saturday, Sept. 25. By the end of the second day, the Wildcats went 11-8 in singles matches and 2-2 in doubles matches. Kim and Nguyen were two of the top players of the day, as they both advanced to the semifinals in the Flight 4 singles draw on Sunday.  

The Wildcats held four of the eight spots in the third round of the Flight 4 draw, where they faced some of their most competitive matches of the season. In the second round, both Kim and Nguyen defeated their opponents from Mary Washington and then proceeded to play their own teammates in the next round. Kim beat junior Will Gatti, while Nguyen beat sophomore Noah Winton. On top of this, freshman Trey Fourticq advanced on to the semifinals round of the Flight 2 singles draw.  

On Saturday morning, Kim and Gatti both won exciting singles matches. Kim beat Cole Tecce from Mary Washington in a close 7-6 (3), 7-5 victory, and Gatti beat Alex Macneil from Saint Joseph’s with a 6-1, 2-6 and 10-5. When they advanced to the third round, Kim beat Gatti in a 6-4, 6-3 decision. In the Flight 4 bracket, Nguyen had a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Mary Washington’s Artis Hart and Winton had a 6-3, 1-6 and 10-5 win over Djordje Janackovic from Drexel. Both Nguyen and Winton, being two of the youngest, most promising players, faced off one another in two tied sets that ended with Nguyen winning the third set 7-6 (2), 6-7 (4) and 10-5.  

On Sunday, the Wildcats went 7-5 in matches on the last day of the tournament. Senior Matthew Jones and doubles partner sophomore Josh Robinson made it to the championship match with a solid 6-1 victory. In the Flight 3 singles draw consolation, Jones ended up on top after winning three times this weekend.  Nguyen won the championship match for the Flight 4 singles and Fourticq and sophomore partner Eitan Khromchenko won the Flight 2 doubles consolation match. Last season’s power tandem  Jones and Robinson went 3-0 in the doubles draw, and then beat Morgan State 6-3 to advance to the finals. The pair ended up facing Delaware in the championship, and won 6-1. 

Nguyen played in the Flight 4 singles bracket and beat Lehigh but lost to Saint Joseph’s with a final score of 6-3, 6-7 (4) and 10-7. Then, Jones won against Drexel in the Flight 3 consolation draw finals after losing in the first round of the bracket. Over the remainder of the day, three Wildcat teams competed in the consolation draw of the Flight 2 doubles bracket. Fourticq and Khromchenko defeated fellow Wildcats Anthony Prokurat and Justin Suarez with a final score of 6-3, winning the consolation draw.  

After a successful weekend at the tournament, the Wildcats are off this week. They return to action on Oct. 8-10, when they will compete in the River City Open in Richmond, Virginia.