CUNYAC / Hospital for Special Surgery Men's Tennis
Championship
Staten Island Wins Fifth Title In Seven Years
May 10th, 2003
 Flushing Meadows, NY - The College of Staten Island claimed the 2003 CUNY Athletic Conference Men's
Tennis Championship at the USTA National Tennis Center, narrowly topping Hunter College 43 to 41 points by
winning four of the nine singles and doubles flights contested. It marks CSI's fifth title in seven years and tenth title
overall in the sport, the most of any city program.
"The guys played great this weekend and we played against tremendous teams, said the Dolphin's head
coach Bruce Knittle, whose team finished tied for second during the regular season.
"It's the first time we ever had
a #1 singles winner and he's probably the best player we ever had at CSI.
Tournament MVP Alex Ilchenko (Brooklyn, NY) of Staten Island defeated Oded Meiron (Tel Aviv, Israel) from
Hunter to capture the championship at #1 flight by the scores of 6-3 and 6-2. At #2, his Dolphin teammate Dmitry
Lutsker (Brooklyn, NY) defeated Kinta Gumbs (New York, NY) from CCNY by the score of 6-4 and 6-1 to wrap up
two perfect seasons for the CSI 1-2 punch.
Rookie Markus Muttenthaler (Haag, Austria) from CCNY saved his best tennis for the end of the season and
surprised the field to defeat Leonard Sherman (Staten Island, NY) from Staten Island and take the gold in third
singles by the score of 6-3 and 6-2.
Hunter remained close in the final tally thanks to two freshmen who came through when it counted for the
Hawks. Lev Slootsky (Brooklyn, NY) defeated previously unbeaten Rich Rappaport (Brooklyn, NY) of Brooklyn by
the score of 6-3 and 6-3 to capture the fourth singles championship while Craig Kafko (Spring Valley, NY) defeated
Marcel Sandougout (Paris, France) from Staten Island 7-5, 7-5 to claim the championship in fifth singles.
In the lone three-set match, Craig Gellerman (Staten Island, NY) of Staten Island knocked off Luke Torres
(Brooklyn, NY) from John Jay by the score of 6-4, 4-6 and 6-0 to earn the title of sixth singles champion. Staten
Island rounded out the team scoring as the Odessa, Russia connection of Ilchenko and Lutsker beat the CCNY
pair of Gumbs and Muttenthaler 7-6 (7-0), 6-1in first doubles to earn themselves wins in both their singles and
doubles flights.
 "Alex and Dmitry are the best players that I've had the pleasure of coaching this year, said Knittle.
"They were
both undefeated and consistently played well against tough competition.
"The doubles win was big for us not only as a team but individually as well, said the #1 singles champion Ilchenko.
"We played Gumbs and Muttenthaler earlier this year and they beat us so it felt especially good to win
today.
Hunter's Vince Solomson (Astoria, NY) and Slootsky defeated Sherman and Paul Ricciardi from Staten Island
by the score of 6-2 and 6-0 to claim the championship title at #2 doubles with Craig Kafko & Zhibin Ye (New York,
NY) claiming the second title for the Hawks' in the third doubles by beating John Gomez & Gregory Nixon (Brooklyn,
NY) from CCNY by the score of 6-3 and 6-1.
"I feel very good and quite proud about the two golds, but I would have given them up for the team title,
concluded Slootsky, whose Hawks took the regular season title with an 8-0 mark. CCNY finished third with 30
points while John Jay captured fourth place with 25 points, followed by Brooklyn (17), Baruch (13), Lehman (10),
York (9) and City Tech (1).
TEAM FINAL SCORES:
Staten Island 43
Hunter 41 CCNY 30 John Jay 25
Brooklyn 17
Baruch 13
Lehman 10 York 9
City Tech 1
Championship-Results |
