Junior tennis standout Arvis Berzins won his first collegiate tournament over the weekend (Sept. 20-22) at the USTA BJK NTC Men's College Invitational. The two-time Northeast Conference Player of the Year, who was the No. 3 overall seed in the tournament, defeated Bucknell's Nick Bybel, the No. 4 seed, 7-5, 6-0, to win the "A" Flight of the Men's Open Singles.
Berzins started his run to the title with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Joe Dube of Marist in the round of 16. He then faced Youngstown State's Silvi Mistreanu in the quarterfinals and won the first set, 7-6 (3), before Mistreanu retired in the second set with Berzins leading 2-1. In the semifinals Berzins need three sets to extinguish Andres Alban of NJIT, 6-1, 5-7, 10-4, to advance to the championship match.
In doubles play Berzins and freshman Arnaud Valentin teamed up in the top flight of the Men's Open Doubles and made the semifinals before coming up short to Bryant's Ernesto Arguello and Dana Parziale, 8-4. The duo won their first match, 8-5, over Nick Bybel and Aiden Lynch of Bucknell, and squeaked by in their quarterfinals match with NJIT's Carlos Carrera and Marko Knezevic, 8-6.
