Senior Rok Bozic teamed up with Diego Pinto for a run to the Doubles final.
Senior Rok Bozic teamed up with Diego Pinto for a run to the Doubles final.

Bozic and Pinto Advance to Doubles Final to Highlight UDC Men’s Tennis ITA East Regional Championship Tournament Appearance

FLUSHING, NY – The six members of the University of the District of Columbia men's tennis team competed individually in the singles tournament and in three pairs for the doubles tournament at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) East Region Championship Tournament co-hosted by Queens College and Adelphi University at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.

Senior Rok Bozic, who earned a First Round bye courtesy of his No. 4 seeding in the singles tournament, defeated Queens College's Zurro Polvorosa, 5-7, 6-2, 8-2 ret. in the Round of 32 to advance to the Round of 16. There, he was dealt a 6-4, 5-7, 10-8 loss to Queens' Cosme Jubera.

Senior Ander Murillo won three singles matches before having his tournament run halted in the Round of 32 by a 6-0, 6-3 loss to Concordia College's Alessandro Evangelisti. Before that, he defeated Roberts Wesleyan College's Matthew Cruz, 8-6, and Lemoyne College's Christian Erickson, 8-4 to advance through the qualifying rounds, and pulled through for a come-from-behind, 2-6, 6-4, 11-9 win over Franklin Pierce's Roberto Chong in the first round.

Sophomore Josip Marinic also had to win two matches to get out of the qualifying rounds. He defeated Adelphi's Sabin Adiran Sareluc, 8-6, and NYIT's Maxton Cook, 8-4 to get to the first round, but there he was beaten, 6-4, 6-2 by Jefferson University's Liviu Trifoi.

Senior Alexis Baguelin bested Tim Georg, 8-6 in the final qualifying round, but he was defeated in the first round, 6-2, 6-3 by Concordia College's Eymeric Chevalier. Also, seniors Marco Feligioni and Diego Pinto lost their first matches in the final qualifying round and the First Round, respectively.

In doubles play, Bozic and Pinto teamed up for a run all the way to the Finals. As a No. 2 seed, the pair earned a first round bye, then defeated Daemen College's David Gonzalez and Ricardo Ruiz Martinez, 8-2 in the second round, and then knocked off USciences' pair Nathan Nguyen and Borna Novak, 8-2 in the Round of 16 to advance to the quarterfinals. Bozic and Pinto then grinded out an 8-6 win over the No. 5 seeded pair from Concordia, Axel Oljons and William Nilsson in the quarterfinals followed by another 8-6 win over Southern New Hampshire University's Bas Van Biezen and Xavier Aubron in the semifinals, setting up a showdown in the finals with No. 1 seed, Alessandro Evangelisti and Eymeric Chavelier of Concordia.

In that finals match, Bozic and Pinto rebounded after a 6-4 first set loss and won the 2nd set, 6-3, but ultimately they lost the match, 6-4, 3-6, 11-9.

In other UDC doubles action, Baguelin and Murillo earned an 8-5 win in the first round, but fell, 8-5 in the second round. Feligioni and Marinic were ousted in the first round.

The Firebirds will return to dual match play on Monday, October 9th as they host USciences at 1 p.m.