FLUSHING, N.Y. (May 2, 2019) - It was a tale of two different matches Thursday in the semifinals of the 2019 CUNYAC/Hospital for Special Surgery Men's Tennis Championship at the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing.

No. 1 seed Baruch cruised to a 5-1 win against fourth-seeded Hunter in the opener, while No. 2 seed Staten Island overcame a deficit, a rain delay and a change in site location to take down third-seeded Brooklyn, 5-4.

Baruch and Staten Island will now meet in Saturday's (May 4) final, in a fierce re-match of a regular-season contest that saw the Bearcats hold on for a 5-4 victory on Apr. 19.

Baruch 5, Hunter 1 - Box Score
Baruch (9-5) jumped out to a quick 2-0 advantage in the match, but Hunter's (4-9) third-doubles pair of Kyle Burrus and Omer Khalifa squeezed out an 8-7 (7-5) tiebreaker to trim the deficit in half.

It was in singles that the Bearcats pulled away. Baruch only lost a combined total of 10 games in the three matches that finished.

Senior Leonard Margolis got it started at No. 2 singles with a 6-2, 6-1 win against Hunter's Sean Kemp. 

"I feel great. It's awesome to be back in the finals. It was a team effort," Margolis said. "We were confident today. We took care of business in the regular season and we knew what we had to do to beat Hunter."

Freshman Hudson Kaylie won in straight sets (6-2, 6-3) over Jose Agregado at the No. 4 flight. Sophomore David Luo ousted Ryan Hwang by identical 6-1 scores in No. 6 singles.

"We played our game, controlled the points and stuck to the patterns," Baruch Head Coach Gregory Wyzykowski remarked about his team's effort. "We just have to continue to focus and do our job. We can't worry about what our opponent is going to do."

Staten Island 5, Brooklyn 4 - Box Score
In a match that was played at two different sites, Brooklyn led 3-2 before the skies opened and forced the location of the match to be moved to the Queens College Tennis Center.

Though Brooklyn had all the momentum outdoors, the tide turned towards Staten Island when play resumed indoors.

Senior Alex Tsui tied the match with a 6-3, 7-5 win against Remi Laurence at No. 5 singles. Fellow senior Raymond Hwang then put CSI in front in the third-singles flight, going the distance for a 7-6 (7-4), 3-6, 6-3 victory over Julian Calame-Mars.

The No. 1 and No. 6 singles matches finished almost simultaneously, but all eyes were peeled on the top-singles showdown between Matthew Vesci and Justin Vasquez.

In a match that featured two tiebreakers, Vesci rallied from a set down to defeat Vasquez, 2-6, 7-6 (9-7), 7-6 (7-4) to secure CSI's first appearance in the CUNYAC final since 2013.

"We were super happy with the win. It was the most exhilarating match of tennis I have ever been a part of," said CSI Head Coach Ryan Frankel. "Brooklyn played a fantastic match and you have to give them credit for pushing us as hard as they did. It was a rollercoaster of emotions."