March 31, 2008

Men’s Tennis Player Hungry for Top Title
A Brooklyn native, John Rolando started playing tennis at the age of four, when his father put him on the program at the McDonald Ave. and Ave. S tennis court.
    “I’ve loved the sport since,” he says calmly as he awaits his turn to play against his Brooklyn Tech opponent. “And I still play there on occasion.”
    Rolando, on his second year at the Program of Physical Education, is one of the nine tennis players on Brooklyn College’s team. “So far I’m 2-0 and I’m very optimistic about this year,” he adds.
    Because of the harsh winter weather, he and his teammates were working out in the gym at the beginning of the semester then started playing in earnest to get season-ready in mid February. “Then we had to play every day because we knew our first match was March 20.”
    The BC men’s tennis players will have an average of three matches a week for five weeks until the start of the playoffs.
    “Last year we got to first place in our division, had a great playoff season and got all the way to the CUNYA championship.”
    In the end, they lost to Baruch College in the final game. “It was 4-4 and it could’ve gone either way,” he says.
    Two teammates who graduated last year are no longer around, but the team gained two equally talented players this year and Rolando is very hopeful of their chances.
    “We’re more together as a team and we’re very close to our coach, Louis Gonzalez,” he says before concluding, “I think this year will win the championship.”

A Great Run
    For Brooklyn College’s Tennis Team Captain Joy Rotstein, it’s all about the competition. 
    A double major in History and Education who expects to graduate in 2009, Captain Rotstein led ten BC teammates in tough competition against 10 other CUNY teams last October in their quest for the top CUNYAC title.
     "We had a good run," she states about the late August through late October tournament that this year that ended for BC in the semifinals. "We have a very good and dynamic team and our personalities cliqued very well," she added.
    Joy and her teammates achieved an enviable 10-4 record in the regular season, qualifying them for the final rounds. On their road to success, she recalled recently, they defeated CCNY in the quarter finals, much to the delight of BC female tennis team coach Louis Gonzalez.
    While Baruch College prevailed in the semis, the Brooklyn players showed resilience forcing a significant number of games was forced to a tie-breaker. They will continue to chase a championship when they return to competition in fall 2008. Asked about the 2008 tournament that will start in the fall, the team captain sounded optimistic:
    "We'll be more rounded next year. That’s what this is about – a team effort."