Men's Tennis Starts Fall with Success

FORT MYERS, Fla.—The 2010 National Champion Barry men’s tennis team won both doubles and singles A flights at the FGCU Men’s Invitational over the weekend in their first action of the year.

In singles play, three Buccaneers advanced to the semifinals of the A flight. Emanuel Fraitzl first defeated Juuso Tapananen from Webber 6-2, 6-1, and then defeated Jorge Abarca from Florida Tech 6-0, 6-1. In the semifinals, Fraitzl faced fellow Buccaneer Quentin Vachez and won 6-2, 6-2 over the freshman. The finals matched Fraitzl against another teammate, Max Wimmer. The two did not play the championship match.

Vachez, after joining the team only two weeks ago, defeated Florida Gulf Coast’s Dean Tsamas 4-6, 6-1, 11-9. In the second round, Vachez defeated conference foe Drew Hollis from Florida Tech 6-3, 6-1.

Wimmer’s first round win was a 6-0, 6-4 victory against Mike Schmidt from Florida Tech. In the second round, Wimmer defeated Tyler Heath from Webber 6-4, 6-2, and in the semis, Wimmer dropped Jackson Moore from Florida Gulf Coast 6-1, 6-0.

Simon Raagaard also played in the A flight, losing his first round match to Moore in a close 7-5, 7-6 (8) match.

The B flight of singles play saw Barry’s Kurt Thien advance all the way to the finals against Steve Binninger from Florida Gulf Coast. Thien first defeated Thiago Marion from Webber 6-0, 6-2 then beat Mitchell Lvousky from Florida Gulf Coast 6-2, 6-2. Thien posted a 6-0, 6-1 win against Gabriel Echeverry from Florida Gulf Coast 6-0, 6-1.

Andy Krasnansky also competed in the singles B flight and dropped his first match to Echeverry 6-0, 6-1. Ruben Penate grabbed his first win of the fall season with a 6-1, 7-6 win over Alfonso Duarte from conference opponent Florida Tech. Penate lost his second round match 6-3, 6-1 to Collin Brown.

The final player in the singles B flight for the Bucs was newcomer Rafael Mittag. Mittag dropped his first match 6-3, 6-1 to Christian Battaglia from Florida Tech.

Barry lined up Wimmer and Vachez and Fraitzl and Raagaard for their two teams in the doubles A flight. Wimmer/Vachez lost their first match to Webber’s combo of Teixeira and Tapanainen 8-6. The Fraitzl/Raagaard duo won the flight after an 8-3 win over Teixeira and Tapanainen in the finals. Fraitzl and Raagaard first downed Abarca and Dylewski from Florida Tech 8-1 and then defeated Moor and Checchia from Florida Gulf Coast to earn a trip to the finals.

Thien and Krasnansky teamed up in the double B flight and lost their first match 9-7 to Webber’s Marion and Schmidt. Also in the doubles B flight was Penate and Mittag. The pair defeated Florida Tech’s Duarte and Perkins 9-8 then lost in the semifinals to Echeverry and Binninger 8-6.

Barry faired very well in consolation play throughout the weekend. Wimmer and Vachez won the doubles A consolation bracket while Thien and Krasnansky made it to the finals of the doubles B consolation bracket.

Raagaard also advanced to the singles consolation championship with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Schmidt. In the singles B consolation, both Krasnansky and Mittag advanced to the finals but did not face off against each other.
The next tournament for the Bucs is the Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s Regional host by 2010 national runner-up Valdosta State Sept. 30-Oct. 3.