April 3, 2008 Issue                                       

©2007 The Chestnut Hill Local

Rams butt CHC racquetmen
by TOM UTESCHER

QUALIFIED CHAMPIONS: Mount St. Joseph Academy’s 200-yard medley relay team – (left to right) sophomore Laura Pospisil (freestyle), sophomore Danielle Kouch (breaststroke), senior Jackie Hain (backstroke), and senior Caroline Menapace (butterfly) —  qualified for the PIAA Class AA State Swimming and Diving Championships, held at Bucknell University on March 14 and 15.  The relay placed fifth in the consolation finals with a time of 1:54.63, earning them 13th place overall in the event.  Kouch finished third in the consolation final of the 100-yard breaststroke (1:08.98) – good for 11th place in the event, while Hain took 5th in the consolation final of the same event (1:09.11), finishing 13th overall.  In the final team standings, the Mount finished in 35th place.

Last Tuesday afternoon, the Chestnut Hill College tennis team traveled down along the Wissahickon Creek until the Griffins arrived at Philadelphia University.

The host Rams defended their home turf vigorously, improving their spring season record to 4-4 by handing CHC an 8-1 setback. The Griffins, whose lone victory came at first singles courtesy of freshman Carson Richter, went home with a 3-2 mark.

Although both schools are members of the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference, there aren’t enough conference members fielding tennis teams to make it an official CACC sport. With new teams coming on line next year, tennis should become a full-fledged conference sport in 2008-2009.

Philly U’s second singles player, senior Alex Richter, is a cousin of the Griffins’ Carson Richter. In the geographical sense, they are distant cousins, since CHC’s Richter comes from Lafayette Hill, while Alex grew up in Guatemala.

The related racquetmen did not face one another in singles competition, but they did in the first doubles match. Here, Alex Richter teamed up with freshman Tom McAvoy to give the Rams an 8-2 pro-set victory over Carson Richter and his CHC partner, senior Shane Lesher.

In second doubles, Philly U. senior Anders Novesky and sophomore Mario Bermeo won 8-1 over a pair of visiting juniors, Jim Stewart and Garrett Senior. Representing the Rams at third doubles were freshman Seppi Hutter and sophomore Mike Abate, who went by junior Kyle DeRiemer and freshman Mike Maccherone of Chestnut Hill, 8-0.

As singles play got underway, Carson Richter allowed the Griffins to avoid a shutout as he downed Novesky, 6-3, 6-1. The Rams’ Alex Richter knocked off CHC’s Lesher at number two, 6-1, 6-0, and in the third spot Philly U. senior Boo Burnier captured a pair of 6-2 sets from the Griffins’ Stewart.