Kelm Rises at ITA Fall Regionals
FREDERICKSBURG, Va. -- Garnet freshman Zak Kelm won four matches as the Swarthmore men's tennis team completed the fall season at the ITA Fall Regionals at the University of Mary Washington this past weekend.
Kelm (Shaker Heights, Ohio / University School) advanced the farthest amongst the Swarthmore men in the Championship draw, defeating Salisbury’s Andrew Nottage, 7-5, 6-3, in the first round before dispatching of the 2008 Centennial Conference Player of the Year, Thomas Kinrade of Haverford, 6-3, 6-4, in the second round. Klem was ousted, in the round of 16, by Mary Washington’s Riley Baver by a score of 7-5, 6-3.
Kelm also teamed with classmate Stephen Youngblood (Norcross, Ga. / homeschooled) in the Doubles Championship draw, upsetting the Bridgewater tandem of Ryan Radke and Brian Remsch (ranked 12th in the Atlantic South Region at the end of last season), by a score of 8-6. The duo advanced into the quarterfinals with a victory over Carnegie Mellon’s Jeremy King and Bobby MacTaggert, 8-4. Salisbury’s Scott Burtzlaff and Evan Thomas ended the Garnet run with an 8-0 victory.
Garnet sophomore Mark Wee (Syosset, N.Y. / Syosset) won three matches in the B2 Draw before falling to Tripp Webber from Johns Hopkins, 6-1, 6-2, in the final.
Swarthmore’s top doubles tandem, senior Kevin Shaughnessy (South Kingston R.I. / South Kingston) and freshman Eric Legunn (Waccabuc, N.Y. / John Jay) lost to the JHU doubles pair, Jacob Barnaby and Casey Blythe, 8-2, in the championships draw but rallied to win twice in the consolation draw. The pair advanced to the consolation semifinals with an 8-6 win over F&M’s Dough Silverstein and Armen Vartan, and an 8-2 victory over W&L ‘s Michael Freeman and Tim Watson. Christopher Newport’s Eric Shulman and Lorenzo Sison slipped past the Swarthmore duo, 8-6, on their way to the consolation title.
Swarthmore will resume action in February, opening the spring slate with a home match against New York University. The Garnet will host the Violets on Feb. 21 in the Michael Mullan Tennis Center. Time still to be determined.