SCHENECTADY, N.Y. -- The SUNY Oneonta men's tennis team went on the road for the Union Invitational this past weekend, and competed against players from Union College, Drew University and St. Lawrence University. Junior William Schmid (Yonkers/Salesian HS) secured third place in the 'B' singles bracket and freshman Peter Pitaleff (Garrison, N.Y./Highland Falls Fort Montgomery) took fifth place in the 'D' singles bracket.

Schmid started the tournament with a 6-0, 6-1 victory against Drew's Nicolas Mobayed. He then dropped the semifinals match to the eventual 'B' bracket winner, Union's Ben Jacobs, 6-6, 6-2. In the third-place match, Schmid won via injury walkover against St. Lawrence's John Edgar-Hill.

Pitaleff fell to Union's Jiahe Wang in the first round then turned it around with back-to-back wins for fifth place in the 'D' bracket. He beat Drew's Josh Kline, 8-3, then the Saints Michael Chaho, 8-5, in the fifth-place match.

Freshman Ryan Geller (Cornwall-on-Hudson, N.Y./Cornwall) fell in his first match in the single's 'C' bracket to Union's Solen Bellemare. Geller bounced back and defeated the Ranger's Shivendra Perera, 8-3, to advance to the fifth-place match, however St. Lawrence's Michael Chaho bested him in the match, 8-5.

Freshman Sean Lippman (Massapequa Park, N.Y./Massapequa) recorded two wins in the single's 'E' bracket. He won his first match against Drew's Pharell Logenback, 8-3, then secured the tiebreaker in a tough match against the Ranger's Owen Reynolds, 8-7 (7-3). Junior Nate Inzerillo (Center Moriches/Center Moriches) took on Reynolds afterwards and came out on top, 8-2.

In doubles play, Schmid teamed up with sophomore Chris Chippari (Poughkeepsie, N.Y./Roy C Ketcham) in the 'A' bracket and opened with an intensely close match against the Garnet Chargers' Daniel Saxe and Solen Bellemare. Both sides traded games, sending the match into the tiebreaker where the back-and-forth play continued. Chippari and Schmid ended up outlasting Saxe and Bellemare in the tiebreaker for the win, 8-7 (11-9). The Red Dragon duo had another tough match against the Saints' Jake David and Broderick Pinto, but David and Pinto took the match, 8-6.

Pitaleff and freshman Jaden Ritterman (White Plains, N.Y./White Plains) paired up in the 'A' bracket and defeated Drew's Kline and Perera, 8-6. Lippman and junior Braden Greenberg (Northport, N.Y./Northport) competed in the 'B' doubles bracket and upended Drew's Cameron Longa and Devan Sutaria, 8-2.

The Red Dragons are back in action on Sunday, September 22, for an afternoon match against Yeshiva at 2 pm on the Dr. Heissan '63 Tennis Courts.