Philadelphia, PA -- The NJIT men's tennis team turned in a strong weekend at the Saint Joseph's Invitational, highlighted by Arijan Kaliterna and Yerassyl Bakhtiyar advancing to the finals of their respective singles draws before Sunday's championship matches were canceled due to weather.

Kaliterna competed in the Hawk Hill Draw, the tournament's top singles flight, and continued his impressive start to the season. The freshman opened the weekend with a hard-fought victory over Saint John's Radomir Tomic, 6-3, 6-7(5), 10-6. Tomic entered the weekend after being ranked No. 9 in the region last season.

Kaliterna followed with another strong performance, defeating teammate Maksym Kalabishka, 5-2, before Kalabishka was forced to retire due to injury. With the victories, Kaliterna remained undefeated on the season in both singles and doubles competition, improving to 5-0 in singles and 5-0 in doubles.

Bakhtiyar advanced to the final of the Crimson Draw after earning a pair of victories during the weekend. After defeating Drexel's Josue Guzman, 7-5, 7-6(7-1), Bakhtiyar earned a straight-set victory over Saint John's Adam Kresina, 7-6(3), 7-6(4), to advance to Sunday's final. The championship match was ultimately canceled due to weather.

Riccardo Campagnola also put together a strong weekend in the Hawk Hill Draw, earning victories over quality opponents from Penn and Drexel. Campagnola battled back to defeat Penn's Parashar Bharadwaj, 5-7, 6-3, 10-8, before earning a 6-3, 7-5 victory over Drexel's William Burridge. Campagnola advanced to the semifinals before falling to Saint John's Semen Agynskyy, 6-1, 6-0.

NJIT also saw strong performances from Francisco Guimaraes and Maxime Hankins. Guimaraes competed with plenty of heart throughout the weekend, earning victories over Delaware's Matteus Froberg Dahlin, 6-1, 3-6, 10-6, and Drexel's Josue Guzman, 7-6(4), 7-6(1). Hankins also continued to find his way back into the win column, reaching the final of his consolation draw after earning an 8-5 victory over Saint Joseph's Jakob Gaudreau Barnes.

In doubles play, Campagnola and Bakhtiyar opened the weekend with a 6-4 victory over Delaware's Matteus Froberg Dahlin and Adam Bojkovic. Kaliterna and Hankins also earned a 6-3 win over Delaware's John Gentek and Mario Beckles, while Venedikt Tsirikidze and Kalabishka picked up a 6-4 victory in the Crimson Draw.

"We had a good weekend of tennis, unfortunately cut short with the finals being canceled on Sunday due to the weather," said NJIT head coach Marco Matteccui. "Arijan is continuing on a great roll so far, going undefeated in both singles and doubles. Riccardo had good wins against Penn and Drexel players, while Yerassyl is finding his way and becoming a good competitor, reaching the finals of his draw. Francisco competed with a lot of heart as well, winning matches against quality players, and Maxime is also finding his way back to some wins, reaching a consolation draw final. It was a very successful weekend overall."

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