By Elijah Stewart on Jun 07, 2011
The Hawks Men’s Tennis Team demolished Lehman College April 30, in the quarterfinals of the CUNYAC playoffs at the United States Tennis Association National Tennis Center in Flushing, Queens. Hunter advanced to the semifinals to play College of Staten Island May 2.
Editor’s Notes: The Dolphins of Staten Island took two out of the three doubles matches, but the Hawks’ Arthur Kapetanakis clinched the match at fourth singles 6-2, 3-6, 6-2. The Hawks later beat Baruch to retain the CUNYAC conference title. Luis Quintero was named the CUNYAC Tournament MVP. Kapetanakis and Captain Mark Goldfinger earned post season honors, respectively, First and Second Team CUNYAC All-Star honors. The Hawks were less successful in the NCAA regional. More info here: here from the Hawks’ sports website.
The Hawks-Lehman face off was set up as a series of nine matches that included three initial doubles matches played simultaneously, followed by six singles also played simultaneously. On Court 16 at USTA, the Hawks number one duo of Yevgeny Perepevov and Luis Quintero defeated Raul Santana and Michael Tal of Lehman in a convincing 8-1 fashion. Perepevov and Quintero jumped out to a 4-0 lead and never looked back in dominating the last four games.
On Court 15, Roy Forberg and Arthur Kapatenakis beat Jahi Abasi-Jabbar and Cesar Andrade 8-4. Thomas Lin and Mark Goldfinger completed the sweep of the doubles segment in defeating Philip Akogu and Marcos Coto-Batres of Lehman on Court 14.
During the singles portion of the series, Hunter clinched the 5-0 sweep with straight set victories from Goldfinger and Quintero over Coto-Batres and Tal respectively. Goldfinger dominated Coto-Batres 6-0, 6-0 and Quintero would defeat Tal 6-1, 6-1.
Captain Mark Goldfinger, 22, said he felt he played well despite some unforced errors. “I made two double faults that I was upset about and I went for a few shots that I didn’t get down because I tried to push them,” said Goldfinger, an economics major who lives in midtown Manhattan.
Asked what powered his impressive performance, Goldfinger, dressed in a purple Hunter jersey, black shorts, and cap, said, “I felt my backhand cross court passing was really there today. I got put back in the line a few times and the guy came to the net and I was able to use my back hand to go past him and get the point. I also felt my mind was really there today. There were a few times where I was a point away from being broken or from him getting the game and I was able to maintain myself and get the game.”
Goldfinger showed a lot of emotion and intensity throughout his matches and said that’s how he always planned to play. “Absolutely, I play from the heart always. I think it helps you when you play and tell you what kind of player you are,” he said. “Because you can get down a set or down five games, and you have to find it in yourself to fight back. So I am usually very intense and very loud.”
Quintero, a 20-year-old resident of the Hunter Brookdale campus dorms on 23rd East Street, originally from Colombia, clinched the fifth victory despite some erratic play early in his singles match. Quintero, dressed in a grey Hunter shirt, black shorts and white cap, said, “I didn’t play as I wanted too, but I won, which was the important thing, but I was making some mistakes that I don’t want to make in the next matches.”
Quintero also said, “I felt my forehand was working today. My backhand, I wasn’t happy with but the backhand was helping me today and the serve was better than all of my matches before.”
Quintero, who also won his doubles match with Pereperov, said he and his partner “played really well, we understand each other very well and in doubles I think what’s most important is having a connection with your partner. I think I have that with Yevgeny, and I think we’re going to do well in the next matches.”
Thomas Lin, 20, was trailing in his singles match 6-5 when Quintero clinched the fifth victory, ending the match. Lin, a psychology major from Flushing, Queens, nursing an ice pack over a shoulder because of tendonitis, said his teammates felt “pretty good about our chances as long as we get some more practices in I think we got a shot.”
Arthur Kapetanakis, a 20-year-old media studies major, said he used his match to work on some things in order to get prepared for tougher competition in the future. Kapetanakis, a resident of the Brookdale dorms, wearing a Hunter grey shirt and black shorts, said his confidence was “pretty good, we didn’t play our best, but we got the win and tomorrow we get to practice and hopefully be ready for Tuesday’s match.”
Yevgeny Perepevov, a 23 year-old economics major, was leading his singles match 5-0 when the overall match was called. Perepervov, a resident at the Brookdale dorms, who wore a Hunter purple jersey, black shorts and caps, said, “I feel good, I don’t feel like we’re going to win, I know we’re going to win. So I feel good already.”
Elijah Stewart can be contacted at Thehandler3@aol.com