SCHENECTADY, N.Y. – The Fairleigh Dickinson men's tennis team continued to dominate play at the Siena Fall Invitational Saturday, finishing the tournament by winning two of three doubles flights and three of four singles flights.
 
Three different Knights went unbeaten throughout the entire two-day event. Junior Maciej Autuch and freshman Teodors Pukse each finished the weekend 4-0 in singles and 3-0 in doubles competition, and junior Youssef Sader won his singles flight by going 4-0 in his matches. Sophomore Mehdi Dhouib would have been the fourth Knight to win out the weekend if not for having to face Pukse in the final of their respective singles and doubles flights.
 
Autuch started his day in doubles play, continuing his run with freshman Andrei Oprisor to the flight championship, where the duo defeated a Colgate pairing in a 6-4 match. Pukse won his doubles flight as well with teammate Andris Gudins, playing a close 7-5 match against their fellow Knights, Dhouib and junior Eduardo Cabral.
 
Pukse again met Dhouib in the Singles Flight B final after both players won their respective semifinal matches. Dhouib ousted Siena's Tomas Del Olmo with a strong 6-1, 6-0 showing, and Pukse battled back from a first-set loss against Holy Cross's Will Kaiser to win the second set, 7-5, and the ensuing superset, 10-7, to move on to the final. The two teammates then played a competitive final, with Pukse finishing on top in a 1-6, 6-0, 10-8 match.
 
Autuch played well in his Singles Flight C matches, dropping only five combined games in his two matches. He first defeated Connor Nelson of Holy Cross, 6-1, 6-1, in the semifinal before going on to best Hofstra's Giacomo Pezzoli in the final, 6-2, 6-4.
 
Sader battled from behind to win both his semifinal and final match in Singles Flight D. He first overcame a 3-6 first-set loss to Lafayette's Nash Lovallo by winning 6-1 in the second set and then 10-8 in the superset. Sader then repeated his magic in the final against Dean Vlassis of Colgate, rebounding after a 2-6 loss in the second set to win the superset, 10-7, and the flight.
 
Junior Moric Budinszky also scored a singles win for the Knights in the consolation side of Flight A, defeating Hofstra's Alvaro Arce Lopez-Sanchez in a 8-6 match.
 
The Burgundy and Blue finished the tournament with a combined 19-8 record in singles and a 9-3 mark in doubles.
 
FDU returns to the courts on Friday, September 20, when it begins the three-day Hofstra Invitational.
 
DAY TWO BOX SCORE
 
DOUBLES FLIGHT A
Final: Teodors Pukse/Andris Gudins (FDU) def. Eduardo Cabral/Mehdi Dhouib (FDU), 7-5
 
DOUBLES FLIGHT B
Semifinal: Nick Potter/Rohan Gupta (Colgate) def. Dennis Espiritu/Taiga Koyama (FDU), 6-4
 
DOUBLES FLIGHT C
Final: Maciej Autuch/Andrei Oprisor (FDU) def. Peter Hartman/Dean Vlassis (Colgate), 6-4
 
SINGLES FLIGHT A
Consolation Final: Moric Budinszky (FDU) def. Alvaro Arce Lopez-Sanchez (Hofstra), 8-6
Semifinals: William Barry (Lafayette) def. Ivan Solans Diaz (FDU), 6-3, 6-4
 
SINGLES FLIGHT B
Semifinals: Pukse (FDU) def. Will Kaiser (Holy Cross), 2-6, 7-5, 10-7
Semifinals: Dhouib (FDU) def. Tomas Del Olmo (Siena), 6-1, 6-0
Final: Pukse (FDU) def. Dhouib (FDU), 1-6, 6-0, 10-8
 
SINGLES FLIGHT C
Consolation: Jonathan Mahrt Guyou (Hofstra) def. Koyama (FDU), 8-6
Semifinals: Autuch (FDU) def. Connor Nelson (Holy Cross), 6-1, 6-1
Final: Autuch (FDU) def. Giacomo Pezzoli (Hofstra), 6-2, 6-4
 
SINGLES FLIGHT D
Semifinals: Youssef Sader (FDU) def. Nash Lovallo (Lafayette), 3-6, 6-1, 10-8
Final: Sader (FDU) def. Vlassis (Colgate), 6-2, 2-6, 10-7
 

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DAY ONE RECAP

The Fairleigh Dickinson men's tennis team started off its fall season with a strong effort at the Siena Fall Invitational, gaining wins in both singles and doubles play.
 
The Knights totaled eight doubles wins and 12 singles victories, with many players winning multiple singles or doubles matches throughout the day.
 
In doubles flight A, both FDU duos advanced to the championship match taking place tomorrow. Junior Andris Gudins and freshman Teodors Pukse won consecutive matches to start their days, first defeating a Hofstra duo 6-3 before downing a Colgate pairing by a 6-2 score. They will face fellow Knight teammates Eduardo Cabral and Mehdi Dhouib in the flight final tomorrow, with Cabral and Dhouib winning matches against Lafayette (6-3) and Hofstra (6-2) duos to reach the final.
 
In doubles flight B, Knight freshmen Dennis Espiritu and Taiga Koyama advanced to the semifinals with a 7-5 win over a Lafayette duo after earning a bye in the first round. Senior Ivan Solans Diaz and junior Moric Budinszky also competed in the flight, falling in a close 6-4 match to a Siena pairing.
 
In doubles flight C, junior Maciej Autuch and freshman Andrei Oprisor rolled to two victories to advance to tomorrow's final, defeating a Hofstra duo, 6-3, and a Siena pairing, 6-2.
 
Singles play also proved to be fruitful for the Knights. In flight B, Pukse and Dhouib both advanced to the semifinals with back-to-back victories. Pukse started his singles day with a 8-3 win over Siena's Guillermo Lopez Torres, and later he defeated Lafayette's Daniel Kramer, 6-0, 6-3. Dhouib cruised to a 8-2 win over Holy Cross foe Alexander Ruenhorst, and the sophomore then downed Yusuke Nishitani of Hofstra, 6-2, 6-1, in the quarterfinal. Gudins also won his first singles match against Hofstra's Jun Sasagawa, 8-5, but lost his next match to Holy Cross adversary Will Kaiser, 6-2, 6-4.
 
In flight C, Autuch only dropped two games in two matches, picking up a 8-1 win over Lafayette's Brandt Baldwin before also defeating Colgate's Nick Potter by a 6-0, 6-1 score. Oprisor won his first collegiate singles match, 8-4, over Colgate foe Kun Tan before falling to Siena's Geovanny Mendoza, 6-4, 6-1.
 
In flight D, junior Youssef Sader won consecutive matches, first beating Holy Cross opponent Mikey Prokopis and then defeating Siena's Alex Giannakitsidis, 7-5, 6-3, to advance to tomorrow's semifinal.
 
In flight A, Solans Diaz earned a 9-8 (2) win over Sagar Bains of Siena. Budinszky dropped a close 8-4 match to Hofstra's Shawn Jackson and then won by walkover in his consolation match.
 
The Knights finish play at Siena tomorrow. Check back at fduknights.com at the end of the day Saturday for final results.
 
DAY ONE BOX SCORE
 
DOUBLES FLIGHT A
Andris Gudins/Teodors Pukse (FDU) def. Yusuke Nishitani/Ostap Kovalenko (Hofstra), 6-3
Gudins/Pukse (FDU) def. Scott Bickel/Kun Tan (Colgate), 6-2
Eduardo Cabral/Mehdi Dhouib (FDU) def. William Barry/John Yurconic (Lafayette), 6-3
Cabral/Dhouib (FDU) def. Shawn Jackson/Alvaro Arce Lopez-Sanchez (Hofstra), 6-2
 
DOUBLES FLIGHT B
Sagar Bains/Matt Nardone (Siena) def. Ivan Solans Diaz/Moric Budinszky (FDU), 6-4
Dennis Espiritu/Taiga Koyama (FDU) def. Ross Coleman/Josh Wolfe (Lafayette), 7-5
 
DOUBLES FLIGHT C
Maciej Autuch/Andrei Oprisor (FDU) def. Jonathan Mahrt Guyou/Julien Wolfe (Hofstra), 6-3
Autuch/Oprisor (FDU) def. Griffin Barnett/Marvin Oberli (Siena), 6-2
 
SINGLES FLIGHT A
Solans Diaz (FDU) def. Sagar Bains (Siena), 9-8 (2)
Jackson (Hofstra) def. Budinszky (FDU), 8-4
Consolation: Budinszky (FDU) def. Will Chen (Holy Cross) by walkover
 
SINGLES FLIGHT B
Pukse (FDU) def. Guillermo Lopez Torres (Siena), 8-3
Pukse (FDU) def. Daniel Kramer (Lafayette), 6-0, 6-3
Gudins (FDU) def. Jun Sasagawa (Hofstra), 8-5
Will Kaiser (Holy Cross), def. Gudins (FDU), 6-2, 6-4
Dhouib (FDU) def. Alexander Ruenhorst (Holy Cross), 8-2
Dhouib (FDU) def. Nishitani (Hofstra), 6-2, 6-1
 
SINGLES FLIGHT C
Autuch (FDU) def. Brandt Baldwin (Lafayette), 8-1
Autuch (FDU) def. Nick Potter (Colgate, 6-0, 6-1
Oprisor (FDU) def. Tan (Colgate), 8-4
Geovanny Mendoza (Siena) def. Oprisor (FDU), 6-4, 6-1
Connor Nelson (Holy Cross) def. Taiga Koyama (FDU), 8-2
 
SINGLES FLIGHT D
Youssef Sader (FDU) def. Mikey Prokopis (Holy Cross), 8-3
Sader (FDU) def. Alexandros Giannakitsidis (Siena), 7-5, 6-3
Barnett (Siena) def. Cabral (FDU), 8-6
Coleman (Lafayette) def. Cabral (FDU) by walkover