The St. John’s Men’s and Women’s Tennis Teams secured multiple wins last weekend at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Northeast Regionals. Both tournaments lasted four days, with the men playing in Philadelphia and the women playing at Manhattan’s Milstein Tennis Center. 

The ITA Regionals features the top men’s and women’s players from across the country. The month-long event runs from Sept. 21 through Oct. 23 at 14 different universities. The St. John’s Men’s team was hosted by University of Pennsylvania, and the women’s team was hosted by Columbia University from Oct. 6 through Oct. 9. Many standout performances on the singles courts made the difference for the Johnnies. 

St. John’s Women’s Tennis ITA Regionals Performance: 

The women opened up the tournament with two singles victories. Graduate student Mouna Bouzgarrou earned a bye through the first round of 128, while sophomore Victoria Papadopoulou picked up a win against Stony Brook in straight sets, 6-0, 6-3. Graduate student Arina Gumerova defeated her previous team, Seton Hall, in straight sets against freshman Anastasia Sereda.

In the round of 64, Bouzgarrou defeated Wagner College 6-3, 6-0. In last year’s spring season, Bouzgarrou recorded a 28-8 record as a singles player, while also being named team MVP and making it to the round of 32 at the ITA Super Regionals. In the rest of singles play, Papadopoulou fell to Columbia in straight sets, while Gumerova was defeated by Army in a close match, 6-3, 6-4. In doubles, partners Papadopoulou and Camila Ordonez beat Lehigh in a pro-set, 8-3, but lost in the next round of 32 to Army. 

Bouzgarrou went on to win her third match in the round of 32, but fell short in the round of 16 against Long Island University (LIU). The second doubles pairing for the Red Storm, freshman Nicoline Sartz-Lunde and graduate student Willa Bay Breunich punched their way through the tournament to the quarterfinals before losing to Fordham. 

The team still has a lot of their fall season remaining. Their next match-up will be on Oct. 14 – 15 at the Princeton Invitational where they will play against Temple, Rutgers, Drexel, LIU and Princeton. From there, doubles pairing Bouzgarrou and Gumerova will play at the ITA Super Regionals in West Point, NY. 

St. John’s Men’s Tennis ITA Regionals Performance: 

The men’s team opened up their tournament run with many strong singles performances. Standout junior from Stockholm, Carl Gustavsson earned a first round bye, and went on to beat Drexel and NJIT before losing in the round of 16 to Penn. He played a total of nine sets in singles play, winning five sets in total for the weekend. As a sophomore Gustavsson was named First Team All Big East selection after going 29-12 in singles play. 

Junior Ryota Kaneda also impressed at the four day event by advancing to the round of 16. He racked up a team high of three victories against Lehigh, Princeton and Niagra before falling to Cornell in straight sets, 6-2, 6-2. He co-lead the Johnnies in singles play alongside Gustavsson last season with a 15-4 record. 

Graduate student Martin Bugaj also recorded a singles win against St. Bonaventure in a close match, going into a tiebreaker to finish off the first set, 7-6. He went on to lose in the round of 32 in a close match against Penn, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4. In doubles, Gustavsson and partner Adam Groves sailed through to the round of 32 before ultimately losing to Lehigh. 

The men’s team will follow after the women at the ITA Super Regionals at Princeton on Oct. 23 as Idaho graduate transfer Francisco Bascón will represent the Johnnies based on his prior results. After the Super Regionals the whole squad will be back in action at the Binghamton Invite from Oct. 27-29.