Bulldogs posting superb net gains

BY MIKE SZOSTAK, Providence Journal


Take the assistant coach and put him in charge, recruit the fifth-ranked junior from Argentina, add a transfer from Missouri Valley College who was a ranked junior in his native Peru, welcome a transfer from Assumption College, and what do you have?

Only the best Bryant University men’s tennis team in 14 years.

Now take the Bryant women’s team that lost two outstanding seniors to graduation, welcome two freshman, one recovering from wrist surgery, and add three talented transfers almost by accident and what do you have?

Only Baraba Cilli’s strongest team in her eight years as head coach.

Together, the Bulldog men and women have written tennis history this spring. The men won their first Northeast-10 Conference championship since 1994 on Sunday with a 5-0 rout of Stonehill. Making the triumph all the sweeter was the women’s fifth consecutive NE-10 title, thanks to a 5-0 triumph over Saint Michael’s.

It’s the first time in 20 years that teams from the same school won the NE-10 regular-season and tournament championships in the same year. Springfield was the last, in 1988.

Both Bulldog teams expect to learn today their first-round opponents for the NCAA Division II tournaments. The men will probably play on the road. The women have bid to host a regional.

“This has been a great season for us, which is pretty obvious by our record,” first-year men’s coach Ron Gendron said. His Bulldogs are 20-3 and posted a 10-0 record in the NE-10.

“We hoped to compete for the Northeast-10 championship and make the NCAAs, but to dominate and get a national ranking and beat two nationally ranked teams (Kutztown and Mercy) exceeded my expectations,” he said.

Gendron has been on the Rhode Island tennis scene for a long time. He played for Carl Labranche at Providence College, graduating in 1990, and was a volunteer assistant for the Friars men’s and women’s teams before becoming an assistant at Bryant. He is a member of the U.S. Professional Tennis Association and still plays competitive doubles.

Gendron got two big breaks when a pair of South Americans decided they wanted to attend Bryant. Cristian Balestrieri initially contacted Cilli, who forwarded his name to Gendron when she learned that Cristian was a man’s name.

“We started a dialogue, and he chose Bryant over Dartmouth,” Gendron said. Balestrieri, 19, graduated second in his high school class in Mar Del Plata and has a 3.65 GPA at Bryant. He was ranked No. 5 in Argentina in the Boys 18s.

Jose Rodriguez, 20, is from Trujillo, Peru, and spent two years at Missouri Valley College, an NAIA school. He played No. 1 singles and doubles last year and reached the third round of the ITA Regionals. As a junior he was No. 5 in the Boys 16s.

Sophomore Thomas Nowak played singles and doubles at Assumption last year and transferred after a coaching shakeup.

“He had one of the most amazing seasons I’ve ever seen. If there was a big match we won, 5-4, I bet he won his doubles and singles,” Gendron said.

Balestrieri is 18-4 at No. 1 singles, Rodriguez 13-3 at No. 2 and Nowak 8-1 at No. 3 and 7-3 at No. 4. Sophomore Kevin Gardiner is 10-5 at No. 5. Balestrieri and Gardiner are 10-3 at No. 1 doubles, Nowak and Rodriguez 12-2 at No. 2. Matt Sheppard-Lupo and Dylan Whiting are 9-3 at No. 3.

Balestrieri earned Northeast-10 player and freshman of the year honors. Rodriguez and Nowak joined him on the first team. Gardiner and Craig Drushella at No. 6 made the second team. Nowak and Rodriguez made first team in doubles.

“Gardiner and Balestrieri set the tone for the entire season at No. 1 doubles. We never lost more than one doubles match. If you can win two doubles and split in singles, you’ll win a lot of 5-4 matches,” Gendron said.

His team won four matches by that score. It won 10 matches, 5-0, and lost only to URI, Concordia and Bloomsburg.

The Bryant women began their quest for a fifth consecutive title without Sacha Solomon, one of the best players in school history, and Annette Jervasi, the mainstays of those championship teams.

Plus, the Bulldogs “were the team that everyone hated and wanted to beat,” Cilli said. Only URI and Northern Kentucky accomplished that objective. The Bulldogs are 23-2 overall and were 12-0 in the NE-10. They did it with five new players.

Freshman Katie Francazio (Cranston/La Salle) had a tremendous rookie campaign, compiling a 23-1 record overall, 18-0 at No. 4 singles, 4-0 at No. 5 and 1-1 at No. 3. She was 12-0 in the NE-10.

“Katie has just gotten stronger since she got here. She is going to our strength coach and is stronger and smarter. She loves to work. She’s a great kid, and we’re really happy to have her,” Cilli said.

Valeria Couto Cuervo arrived from Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, still rehabbing from wrist surgery last June. That gave Amanda Granville, a transfer from Fairleigh-Dickinson at Florham, a chance. She was 9-0 in the NE-10 last fall.

Chelsea Downing transferred from Division II Mercyhurst after Cilli had recruited her younger sister, who ended up at Hofstra. And Emma Czarnecki transferred from Eastern Michigan for the second semester.

“I’ve never had a transfer,” said Cilli, still sounding a little bewildered. “It started last spring. Amanda wants to be an actuarial science major. We watched her hit, and she’s just a backboard. In August Chelsea transferred. She wasn’t happy at Mercyhurst. She was a huge find. I never planned for it. She was a huge surprise. And Emma shot me an e-mail and said it was between Bryant and Providence. We kept in touch. She visited her, liked that we have a men’s team and liked the camaraderie.”

After her arrival Czarnecki settled in at No. 1, Downing moved to No. 2, Michelle Burke (Barrington) stayed at No. 3 and Francazio at No. 4. Couto Cuervo worked her way up to No. 5, and Lauren Mullen bumped Granville from No. 6.

Czarnecki and Downing were 12-0 and Burke and Downing 9-4 at No. 1 doubles and Francazio and Mullen 14-2 at No. 3. Burke and Couto Cuervo were 8-3 at No. 2.

Cilli praised Burke for her poise in playing No. 3 singles, a challenging position because her opponent could be a hard hitter on a deep team or an average player on a less talented team. “She’s a hard worker on the court, and knowing what she’s capable of doing, and then doing it, is a big thing for her,” Cilli said.

Francazio, Couto Cuervo and Granville made first team all-conference in singles. Czarnecki, Downing and Burke made second team. In doubles, Burke and Downing made first team and Francazio and Mullen third team.

Despite leading their teams to titles and in Cilli’s case an undefeated conference record, neither Cilli nor Gendron was voted coach of the year.