BLOOMSBURG, Pa. – The Franklin & Marshall men's tennis team opened its fall season at the Bloomsburg Invitational on Friday and Saturday. With all players getting multiple matches over the two-day event, the Diplomats finished their opening weekend with three singles draw championships and one doubles draw championship.
Ian Alonso was a two draw champion for the Diplomats as he won the red singles and teamed up with Carlos Lana to take the maroon doubles title. Tucker Chesman (white singles) and Campbell Gervais (blue singles) also won their respective draws. Alonso won all three of his singles matches in straight sets.
Alonso's toughest challenge came from his own teammate in the finals before he defeated Theo Oeltermann in the final match by a 6-1, 7-5 score. Alonso and Lana faced their toughest competition of the doubles from their own teammates as they defeated James Parnwell and Marco Romano by a 7-5 score while dropping just three total games in the quarterfinal and championship matches combined.
Chesman took each of his three matches in straight sets en route to the title, defeating opponents from Edinboro and Bloomsburg during the first two rounds before teammate and finalist Aaron Kwok batted him to a 5-4 (4), 4-0 decision. Kwok reached the finals two straight-set victories of his own, including a 6-0, 6-0 blanking of Daemen to open his weekend. In a round robin draw, Gervais did not lose a single game to either of his opponents from St. Francis or Daemen – winning by respective scores of 6-0, 6-0 and 4-0, 4-0.
Other notable results in doubles saw Soren Rudin-Aulenbach and Samuel Donnelly close the weekend on a two-match winning streak after dropping their opening match. Stanislau Kunash and Oeltermann also won a pair of matches in the gold doubles draw. In addition to his singles title, Chesman made the finals of the silver doubles draw along with teammate Hugh Outwater before that pairing was edged 7-5 during the championship match.
Marco Romano and Donnelly both won two matches in maroon singles, with Romano advancing to the finals, while Kunash picked up back-to-back victories to take fifth in the silver singles.
Men's tennis will return to action next Sunday, September 20 when the team travels to Lafayette for a dual match that is scheduled to get underway at 11 a.m.
