Sept. 22, 2008
PHILADELPHIA - Freshman Filip Rams captured the Flight A singles championship to lead the Temple men's tennis team to the inaugural Philadelphia City 6 title this weekend at the Arthur Ashe Tennis Center. Rams, who went 4-0 in his first collegiate appearance, defeated teammate Nathan Spunda in the finals, 6-4, 2-6, 10-8. Rams also reached the doubles semifinals, falling to the eventual champions from Penn.
"It was a tremendous effort," head coach Steve Mauro said. "With the addition of some new players, we think we'll be a stong contender in the A-10 and we proved today that we are the top team in the city."
In the semifinals, Rams defeated Saint Joseph's Pat Adams, 3-6, 6-1, 6-1, while Spunda defeated Penn's Dmitry Bury, 6-3, 6-1 to advance to the finals. The two teammates battled in a close match, with Rams coming out on top, 6-4, 2-6, 10-8.
Spunda and junior Ricardo Velazquez teamed to reach the doubles final before falling to Penn's Bury-Zach Gorn, 8-6, in a close match. In an all Temple semifinal, Spunda and Velazquez defeated junior Pavlos Stephanides and freshman Dmitry Vizhunov, 8-3. Junior Eduardo Saavedra and Rams fell in the other semifinal to Bury and Zorn, 8-6.
In Flight B singles, Vizhunov reached the finals before falling to Penn's Jason Lin, 6-4, 6-2. He had defeated Matt Prusack of SJU, 1-6, 6-4, 1-0 (15-11) in the semifinals. Velazquez dropped his semifinals match in Flight B, falling to Lin, 6-1, 6-2.
Both Temple entries in Flight C fell in the semifinals. Stephanides lost to Saint Joseph's Jeff Kessler, 6-1, 6-0, while Saavedra lost, 6-1, 6-0 to Drexel's Brian Nguyen.
Temple won the team title, followed by Penn and Saint Joseph's. Players were awarded one point for reaching the semi final, two points for the finals and three points for winning the tournament.
The Owls will be back in action next weekend at the North Carolina Invitational.
