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Clippers Capture ECC Championship
04/23/2009
Clippers Capture ECC Championship
Bronxville, NY - The Concordia College men's tennis team won the 2009 East Coast Conference Men's Tennis Championship with a convincing 5-2 win over the Knights of Queens College yesterday afternoon at the Meyers Tennis Center in Bronxville, NY. The win gives Concordia an automatic bid to the 2009 NCAA Division II Men's Tennis Championships in May.
The Clippers captured the first point of the match at No. 3 doubles, where sophomore Richi Malobicky (Pulheim, Germany) and junior Henning Ruenz (Muelheim-Kaerlich, Germany) disposed of David Burstein and Jesse Smith by a score of 8-2. At. No. 1 doubles, sophomore Alex Grubin (Belgrade, Serbia) and freshman Andrey Boldarev (Tashkent, Uzbekistan) defeated Patryk Polus and Danilo Hiraoka 8-4. Fabio Minami and James Preston beat senior Karim Belhadj (London, England) and freshman Viktor Kim (Tashkent, Uzbekistan) 8-4 at No. 2 doubles to give the Knights their first point of the match.
In singles play, Ruenz dominated Hiraoka 6-1, 6-1 at No. 6 singles to put Concordia ahead 3-1. The Knights responded when Smith topped Belhadj 6-3, 6-1 at No. 4 singles, cutting the Knights' deficit to 3-2.
Next to finish would be No. 5 singles, as Kim was victorious against Preston 6-4, 7-5 to put the Clippers at 4-2, needing just one more win to claim the championship. Minutes later, Malobicky clinched the win with a 6-1, 6-1 win at No. 3 singles over David Burstein.
Concordia has now won 16 consecutive matches and improves to 17-3 on the season. The Knights drop to 13-6 on the year.
The Clippers will await the draw for the 2009 NCAA Division II Men's Tennis Championships beginning May 7th or 8th at a site to be determined.
