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Sunday, May 20, 2001

Carnegie Mellon sophomore Kayvon Fatahalian may look the same and play the same game he did a year ago.

But his thinking is different as he heads to the NCAA Division III championships that start tomorrow and run through Wednesday at DePauw University in Greencastle, Ind.

"Last year, I wanted to see how well I could do," he said. "This year, I know how well I should do."

Fatahalian, a 5-foot-7, 150-pound left-hander from Round Rock, Texas, a suburb of Austin, is the defending national singles champion. Unseeded, Fatahalian upset the No. 3 and 4 seeds on the way to becoming the second freshman to win the Division III men's singles title. He won all five of his matches, dropping just one set.

Although he doesn't expect to be the top seed this year, Fatahalian will be a high seed with high hopes.

"I dropped a couple of matches this spring. It wouldn't even be fair if I was seeded No. 1," said Fatahlian, who had a 32-4 record in singles. "I feel like I can definitely do it again, but five matches is a lot of matches to stay at the top of your game. I definitely know what to expect and I know the level of the people there. I just have a different feeling this year. Tennis-wise I'm probably the same, but I'm not mentally as ready."

A major in computer science, Fatahalian concentrated on final exams earlier this month and fit in some tennis whenever possible.

"You have to balance things at Carnegie Mellon. You can't commit your whole day to tennis ... that's what it takes to keep getting better," he said. "I made sure I played some tennis or got in some conditioning during exams because I get out of sync really quickly. I'm not too consistent."

The tennis also helped Fatahalian relax and reduce the stress during the exam weeks.

"It breaks up the day, for sure," he said. "After exams, I concentrated on tennis for about week. I played four hours or so a day to get ready for the nationals. I'm starting to play my best tennis of the spring."

Last year, Fatahalian entered the nationals with youthful enthusiasm and a naivete that helped him in his quest to the title.

"It's very, very different this time," he said. "It seems like it's more task oriented. That's probably not a good thing, actually."

Fatahalian and his teammate, Jonathan Hui, will compete in the doubles competition. They have a 24-6 record.

"You can't predict anything," Fatahalian said. "I can't say what I think is going to happen, but I feel good about the way I'm playing right now."

Net results

Tom Mercer, of Mt. Lebanon, defeated Adam Baranowski, of Toronto, 6-4, 6-4, in the final to pick up $1,250 as the singles champion of the 81st annual Edgewood Invitational at the Edgewood Club. Mercer was down 4-0 in the first set and 3-0 in the second set.

The Mercer brothers, Tom and Ron, won the doubles title with a 6-0, 6-0 victory against Trenton Goerk and Evan Schemer in the final.

The singles field had 19 entries, mostly teaching professionals from the district.

"It was a small field but had good quality," said Victor Wojciak, manager of the Edgewood Club. "I'd like to increase the sponsorship and the prize money. I'd like to get the total prize money to $6,000 and have a field of 26 to 30 players. We're not interested in making money. We're interested in keeping the tournament alive at the club."

The prize money this year was $2,500.

Campus courts

Penn State's Kristen Nowicki, a freshman from Greensburg Salem, lost to Florida International's Cristina Campana at No. 5 singles, 6-2, 7-5, as the Lady Lions were eliminated in the first round of the NCAA Division I women's championships in Nashville, Tenn. Penn State, making its first appearance in the women's tournament, lost to Florida International, 4-0, to finish 15-10.

Over-40 Indoor

Two Murrysville players advanced to the round of 16 today at the National Men's Over-40 Indoor Tennis Championships yesterday at Oxford Athletic Club in Monroeville. Craig S. Perry beat Pittsburgh's John Warwick, 6-1, 6-3, and will play his doubles partner Tom Lucci. James Abraham upset 10th seeded Adam Rosen, 6-4, 6-4, and will face No. 4 Glenn Britzius.