Oct. 5, 2008

Championship day of the Mount St. Mary's Invitational saw only nine out of 15 scheduled matches for Mason due to player injury. Arjun Sanghvi and Jorge Osuna both were injured coming into today's matches and could not compete. Even without those six matches the Patriots managed to take four championships: Flight A singles championship, Flight B singles championship, Flight D singles championship, and Flight A doubles championship. Dan Schneider, Zack Schneider, and Brian Fitzgerald went undefeated in the tournament.

The pair of Brian Fitzgerald and Dan Schneider went 2-0 on the day for doubles and took the Flight A doubles championship. In their first match they made quick work of their opponents winning, 8-1, getting any shot they wanted to drop. In their championship match they saw a hard fought match. Mason's duo found their stroke at the end putting up sensational rallies with great finishing shots to take it 8-6.

Jordan Lipstock and Matt Vaughn were the other team in action and did not have to face a second round opponent as they too defaulted. Their last match was for fifth place in the Doubles A bracket and they won it convincingly, 8-3. Vaughn employed his touch to but the ball where ever the opponents weren't and Lipstock volleyed the opponents out of the game.

Brian Fitzgerald was crowned the Flight A singles champion. He faced off against Norton from Loyola and found the first set to be tough. He took the first set by keeping the ball low so his opponent couldn't get over the net, but was forced into a tiebreaker for the set winning 7-6 and 10-5 in the tiebreaker. The second set was more of the accustomed Fitzgerald, employing sound strategy, taking the second set 6-2.

The Flight B singles champion is Dan Schneider. Mason couldn't have gone wrong here as both competitors were Patriots. Schneider squared off against Wexler in the finals taking the sets 6-3, 6-2. Both found their strokes at times and struggled to compensate for the wind while playing, but Schneider used his experience to stay calm and win.

Flight D singles champion is the Patriots Zack Schneider. This Schneider faced off against Chet Milot of Loyola, who defeated Arjun Sanghvi yesterday. Schneider said he told himself to "play to win, not to play not to lose" during his push for the title and he did just that. In the first set he won 7-5, but later in that set he started to take control by showing great footwork and even better hands to place the ball precisely where the opponent could only sprint to see it go by. Also, he began to come to the net more and volley well. In the second set Schneider found no problem taking what he had learned from the first set and applying it as he took the set convincingly 6-3.

Flight A singles
Championship- Brian Fitzgerald (Mason) def.  Pierce Norton (L)  7-6(10-5), 6-2

Flight B Singles
Championship- Dan Schneider (Mason) def. Lee Wexler (Mason) 6-3, 6-2

Flight C Singles
5th - Matt Vaughn (Mason) def. Jastin Mostowtt (MSM)  6-1, 6-0
3rd - Dan Becker (RM) def. Imran Nayeem (Mason)  6-1, 6-2

Flight D Singles
Championship - Zack Schneider (Mason) def. Chet Milot (L)  7-5, 6-3

Flight A Doubles
Championship- Fitzgerald/Schneider (Mason) def.  Curly/Wodzniski (RM) 8-6
Fitzgerald/Schneider (Mason) def. Plastow/Marinucci (MSM) 8-1
5th - Lipstock/Vaughn (Mason) def. D'Agostino/Russo (L) 8-3