Box Score CANTON, N.Y.— The Hobart College tennis team opened its season this weekend at the St. Lawrence Fall Classic in Canton. The Statesmen had a strong first showing against tough competition this weekend, with first-year Achilleas Kousaridis capturing the "B" flight singles crown and junior Rahul Vallabhajosula capturing the "D" flight singles crown,
 
Schools that participated in this invitational were Hamilton College, Ithaca College, Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), University of Rochester, St. Lawrence University, Union College, and Hobart. 
 
A Flight Singles

• Senior Sean Pesin started off strong with an 8-4 win against RIT's Grahith Movva. He then followed this with another win against Anson Anderson from Hamilton College, 8-5. Pesin then fell in the semifinal round to Ithaca's Nico Luis, 8-4.
• Junior Nick Grosso opened with an 8-6 win against Kay Yuminaga from the University of Rochester. Grosso then fell in a close match, 8-6 against Luis from Ithaca College. 
• Junior Jacob Linares opened with an 8-5 win over Emiliano Pedrero from Ithaca college before falling in an exciting match to Hamilton's Connor Griff, 8-5.

B Flight Singles

• On his road to being crowned Flight "B" Singles champion in his first collegiate outing, Kousaridis defeated John Hill-Edgar from St. Lawrence in a tiebreaker, 8-7 (7-4), Union's Solen Bellemare, 8-1, Rochester's Rahun Ravi, 8-4, and then Rochester's Kavin Shukla, 8-4.
• Sophomore Nick Fischer started off strong with an 8-3 win over Siddharth Vaada from Ithaca College, which was followed by another victory against RIT's Christian Berko, 8-6. Fischer then fell in the semifinal round to Shukla from the University of Rochester, 8-1. 

C Flight Singles

• Junior Hyat Oyer opened with an 8-7 (7-4) win in an exciting match against Seth Prusko from Union College. He then posted another victory over Carlos Hernandez from Ithaca College, 8-5. Oyer then fell in the semifinal round to David Riccio from the University of Rochester in a tie breaker, 8-7 (7-4).

D Flight Singles

• On his road to being crowned Flight "D" Singles champion, Vallabhajosula defeated MJ Chaho from St. Lawrence, 8-2, Union's Shreyas Kode, 8-1, RIT's Luke Weber, 8-5, and Hamilton's Ignatio Tran, 8-4. 
• Sophomore Aidan Staunton started off strong with an 8-6 victory over Alex Kulvivat from the University of Rochester before having to drop out of the bracket due to injury. 

A Flight Doubles

• The pairing of Pesin and Linares started off with a first-round 8-0 win against Keita Fukushima and Austin Gregory from Union College, followed by another win over Yuminaga and Ethan Samora from the University of Rochester, 8-6. Pesin and Linares then defeated Korwar and Feldman from Hamilton College, 8-4, but then fell in the final round against Hamilton's Griff and Anderson, 8-3. 
• The Statesmen pair of Fischer and Staunton showed strong in the A Flight Consolation bracket after being bested by Ithaca's Luis and Vaada, 8-5. Fisher and Staunton then defeated Bellemare and Prusko from Union College, 8-6, followed by another win, 8-7(7-4) over Union's Dimitris Binopoulos and Ben Jacobs. The pair then became A Flight Consolation winners after defeating Union's Fukushima and Gregory, 8-6.

B Flight Doubles

• The Statesmen duo of Grosso and Oyer started off strong with an 8-2 victory over RIT's Ben Walerstein and Anthony Lounder, followed by another win against Woo and Lanzy from Ithaca in a tiebreaker, 8-7 (7-2). Grosso and Oyer then fell, 8-4 in the semifinals against eventual B Flight Doubles winners, Charlie Sternberg and Tran from Hamilton College. 

UP NEXT: 

The Statesmen will travel down to Madison, New Jersey to compete at the ITA Northeast Regional Championships Sept. 30.