FAIRFIELD, Conn. - The Fairfield men's tennis team opened its 2007 campaign on a high note by capturing a flight and advancing two other teams to the semifinals of their respective flights at the Fairfield Doubles Festival today at the Walsh Athletic Center Tennis Courts.

Senior Balazs Szikla (Budapest, Hungary) and junior Chip Palumbo (Winchester, Mass.) provided the excitement in Flight Three, knocking off UConn in a come-from-behind victory. Szikla and Palumbo trailed the Huskies' Tom Cook and Andrew Marcus, 7-4, before the Stags duo regrouped and battled back for the 9-7 win. The pair also avenged their earlier 8-6 opening round loss to UConn. Szikla and Palumbo edged Rhode Island in the semifinals, 8-6.

In Flight One, the duo of freshman George Laffey (Basking Ridge, N.J.) and senior Glen Gannon (Chatham, N.J.) advanced to the semifinals. The pair was edged, 8-6, by Quinnipiac's John Hughes and Charlie Feldman. Earlier in the day, Laffey and Gannon defeated Arthur Hainline and David Burstein of Queens College, 8-4, and Holy Cross' Angelo Sica and John Burke, 8-0.

In Flight Two, rookie Rob Ferrante (Yorktown Heights, N.Y.) and sophomore Ryan Berthod (White Plains, N.Y.) advanced to the semifinals but came up short against UConn. The duo was bested by the Huskies' Christian Malerba and Joey Michaels, 8-4, for their only loss of the day. Ferrante and Berthod defeated Rhode Island's Adam Gart and James McGuire, 8-6, in the opening round. They followed the performance with an 8-2 win over Sacred Heart's Chris McDonnell and Nick Mazzerese. The Stags pair also defeated Quinnipiac's Tom Curran and Scott Salway, 8-4.

Quinnipiac captured both Flight One and Flight Two. The Bobcats doubles teams in both flights went a combined 10-0 on the day.

Fairfield returns to action Sept. 22-23 when it competes at the ECAC Open Championships held at Lehigh University.