While rainy weather moved the Siena Men's Tennis season opener to the indoor confines of Tri-City Fitness, it put no damper on the fortunes of John Chiaramonte's head coaching debut as the Saints won nine of 14 matches in a round robin format against Capital Region crosstown school RPI on Friday. 

"This is a strong showing against a quality team with postseason experience," coach Chiaramonte said.

"Our players rose to the challenge of playing back-to-back-to-back matches in hot conditions."  
 
The reigning MAAC Men's Tennis Champions showcased a much different-looking lineup with four student-athletes also making their collegiate debut with Siena.   
 
All four players got a taste of victory as Marquette transfers Zino Varouhas-Poole and Elijah Zifferblatt, Brazilian native Fabio Varella and Venezuela native Oscar Martinez all flexed their tennis muscles on this day, each winning a doubles match.
 
In singles competition, Martinez notched two victories while junior mainstay Maxwell Acri also picked up two wins. 
 
Zifferblatt and the other returner Andrea Moro each won a singles' match as well. 
 
Due to the weather conditions reducing the invitational to just a single day of competition, LIU declined to make the trip. 
 
The Saints will continue the fall portion of their schedule with a visit to Vestal to take part in the Binghamton Invite from Friday, Sept. 22 through Sunday, Sept. 24. 
 
FULL SCORES
Doubles
Varouhas-Poole/Varella (SC) def. Zhu/Shah (RPI) 7-6 (5)
Moro/Martinez (SC) def. Burnham/McCandless (RPI) 6-4
Okada/Safanov (RPI) def. Varouhas-Poole/Varella (SC) 6-3
Acri/Zifferblatt (SC) def. Marston/Varanasi (RPI) 6-1
 
Singles
Acri (SC) def. Varanasi (RPI) 8-3
Zifferblatt (SC) def. Marston (RPI) 8-6
Burnham (RPI) def. Moro (SC) 8-6
Martinez (SC) def. Shah (RPI) 8-5
McCandless (RPI) def. Varouhas-Poole (SC) 8-6
Zhu (RPI) def. Varella (SC) 8-5
Moro (SC) def. Srinivasan (RPI) 8-7 (5)
Acri (SC) def. McMillan (RPI) 8-0
Martinez (SC) def. Okada (RPI) 8-6
Safanov (RPI) def. Zifferblatt (SC) 8-7 (4)