UM Men's Tennis Downs St. John's 4-0

April 24, 1999

CORAL GABLES, Fla. – The Universityof Miami men’s tennis team(10-11), seeded No. 2, advanced to Sunday’s championship match againsttop-seeded Notre Dame at 9 a.m.with a 4-0 shut out of third-seededSt.John’s in the semifinals of the 1999 BIG EAST Men’s Tennis Championshipatthe Neil Schiff Tennis Center. Notre Dame advanced with a 4-0win over No.5 Rutgers.

Miami advances to the BIGEAST Championship match for the seventhconsecutive season and fourth straight against Notre Dame. TheHurricanes,who have won the BIG EAST Championship the past two seasons and fiveoverall, have only lost once in the finals. The Fighting IrishdefeatedMiami for the BIG EAST crown in 1996, while the Hurricanes picked upthetrophy in 1993, ’94, ’95, ’97 and ’98.

UM quickly picked up theinitial doubles point from St. John’s withwins at the No. 2 and 3 positions. Both Hurricane tandems wonover the RedStorm by a combined score of 16-3.

In singles action, the Hurricanesreceived wins at Nos. 2, 4 and 6to clinch the dual match win. Leading the way for UM was JoseLieberman,who leads the team with a 21-12 overall singles record. LiebermanstoppedSt. John’s Cameron Lore in straight sets, 6-2, 6-1, at No. 4 singlestoclinch the semifinal win.

Also recording wins forthe Hurricanes were Jamin Thompson and JoelBerman. Thompson defeated St. John’s Jaideep Shetty at No. 2singles whenthe Red Storm player was forced to retire early in the second set withThompson leading 6-2, 1-0. Berman defeated Nick Teppara alsoin straightsets, 6-1, 6-1, at No. 6 singles.

BOXSCORE
Doubles
No. 2?? Berman/Odry (UM) def. Vainer/Lore (STJ) 8-2
No. 3?? Ralph Hilt/Lieberman (UM) def. B. Scharf/Teppara(STJ) 8-1
Singles
No. 2?? Jamin Thompson (UM) def. Jaideep Shetty (STJ) 6-2,1-0, retired
No. 4?? Jose Lieberman (UM) def. Cameron Lore (STJ) 6-2,6-1
No. 6?? Joel Berman (UM) def. Nick Teppara (STJ) 6-1, 6-1