Garnet Men Shine at Fall ITAs
Fredericksburg, Va. - Freshman Daniel Park defeated teammate and fellow freshman Robert Xie to capture the B3 Singles Championship, sophomore Sam Clark took first in the B5 consolation flight and a trio Garnet reached the semifinals of the Championship Singles consolation bracket, as the Swarthmore men's tennis team competed at the ITA Southeast Fall Regional from the University of Mary Washington over the weekend.
Bressman reached the semifinals in both the singles and doubles consolation brackets.
In the Championship singles consolation bracket, senior Max Bressman, junior Zak Kelm and freshman Max Kaye all reached the semifinals, which will take place this afternoon. Bressman reached the consolation semifinals after defeating Alex Blakhin (UMW) 6-4, 6-2, Ted Cooke (Stevenson) 6-0, 6-2 and teammate freshman Preston Poon 6-1, 6-3. Kelm reached by besting Andrew Nottage (SU) 6-1, 6-4
Garrett Widing (6-1, 6-3) and Jeremy Becht (W&L) 4-6, 6-1, 10-6, while first-year Kaye defeated David Lupinetti (SU) 6-3, 6-2, H. Yang(Hav.) 6-3, 6-4 and Ron Joy 7-6, 6-4. Semifinal play - which features a battle between Kelm and Kaye - takes place this afternoon.
Also in Championship Singles, senior Mark Wee and sophomore Malik Mubeen each won opening-round matches to reach the Round of 32, as Wee defeated Dustin Nelson (CNU) 7-5 6-1 and Mubeen defeated Joy 6-2, 7-5.
In B3, the Swarthmore pair of Park and Xie swept the competition until they matched up in the final. Park won over Zach Pack (HSC) 6-1, 6-3, Scott Yanak (GCC) 6-0; 6-2, E.Rouff 6-3, 6-0 and then teammate Xie 3-6, 6-2, 6-1 to claim the hard-fought title.
After dropping his first match, Clark earned the B5 consolation crown by winning three consecutive matches, getting by Connor Shortell (Stevenson) 6-0, 6-0, Arthur Jackons (SU) 6-1, 6-1 and Nick Leyva 6-1, 6-4.
In doubles play, the Garnet's top result came in the Championship Doubles consolation bracket, as the pairs of Kelm/junior Stephen Youngblood and Kaye/Bressman won two consecutive matches to face-off in the semifinals. There, it was the duo of Kaye/Bressman that came out on top, besting the All-Centennial doubles duo of Kelm/Youngblood 8-5. Kaye/Bressman will face off against Christopher Newport's Dustin Nelson and Lorenzo Sison for the consolation title this afternoon.