May 16, 2008

LEWISTON, ME -- Sophomore David Maldow (Jericho, NY/Jericho) advanced to the second round of the NCAA Division III Men's Tennis Championships in singles play and the doubles team of senior Joe Vasoontara (Bangkok, Thailand,/Loomis Chaffee) and freshman Casey Blythe (Louisville, KY/Saint Xavier) nearly pulled off a stunning upset in doubles play before falling to the second-seeded team in the tournament on Friday.

Maldow opened his second consecutive appearance in the NCAA Championships with a convincing 6-3, 6-1 win over Max Ortiz of UC Santa Cruz in the opening round. He then won the first set in his second-round match against Middlebury's Flip Marinkovic, 7-6 (4), but fell 6-3 in the second set and dropped the deciding third set, 6-4. He ends the season with a 24-6 record in singles play and the 24 wins are a school single-season record. Maldow's win in the first round was also the 75th overall victory (singles and doubles combined) in his career as he now stands at 75-25 in two seasons.

Blythe and Vasoontara drew a difficult first-round match against second-seeded Charlie Cutler and Chris Hoeland of national championship Washington (MO), but were poised for the upset after easily taking the first set, 6-1. Cutler and Hoeland, who had teamed for a win over Emory in the national championship team match a day earlier, bounced back to win 6-3 and 6-4 in the final two sets. Blythe and Vasoontara end the season with an 18-8 doubles record when playing together.

The loss for Vasoontara brings to a close one of the most successful individual tennis careers in school history. He finishes with a combined singles and doubles record of 106-58 and the 106 overall victories are the most by any player in school history.

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