SAN ANTONIO – The 21st-ranked Trinity University men's tennis team enjoyed a strong start to the ITA Southwest Regional Singles and Doubles Championships on Thursday, putting seven singles players and four doubles teams into the Round of 16.
The 64-man singles tournament had its first two rounds of play today, while the 32-team doubles tournament followed with one round of action. The four-day event began at Blossom Athletic Center and the
Butch Newman Tennis Center on Trinity's campus. The Tigers have the top three seeds in the singles tournament and two of the top three doubles teams.
Jared Perry (Tucson, Ariz. / Catalina Foothills), the top seed in singles, won 6-0, 6-0 against Concordia University's (TX) Vincent Risoldi to start his day, then took out Christopher Langford from Southwestern University (TX) 6-4, 6-3 to advance to the Round of 16.
Kishan Kersten (Plano, Texas / West) is the second-seeded singles player and also won both of his matches on Thursday to reach the next round. He defeated Jason Soto, Jr. from Schreiner University (TX) 6-2, 6-2 and then won 6-2, 7-5 over Southwestern's Nolan Alvarez in the second round. The #3 seed
Ryan Warren (Keller, Texas / Connections Academy) was last year's Regional Singles Champion and he began his bid to repeat with a pair of wins. He defeated Joel Colunga of Austin College (TX) 6-1, 6-0 before knocking out Andrew Reiman of LeTourneau University (TX) with a 6-1, 6-2 victory.
Conor Kaczmarczyk (Aurora, Colo. / Regis Jesuit),
Ivan Nikolovski (Alpine, N.J. / Dwight Global),
Aashish Dhanani (Austin, Texas / Westwood), and
Ethan Flores (Houston, Texas / Clear Lake) joined their teammates in the Round of 16 with wins as well. Kaczmarczyk won 7-6 (8-6), 6-2 over the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor's (TX) Arturo Langle in the opening round, then took a 7-6, 6-2 win over Maddux Foster of Hardin-Simmons University (TX). Dhanani won 7-6 (7-4), 6-1 over Diego Garcia of Concordia University (TX) and then won 6-2, 7-6 (7-3) over Ajonte St Ville of Texas Lutheran University. Nikolovski took out Andrew Reyes of Schreiner 7-6 (7-3), 6-3 and Cashton Herrera from Texas Lutheran 6-2, 6-2. Flores won 6-1, 6-4 against Sam Black from East Texas Baptist University before beating Arnaud Marchetti from UMHB 6-0, 6-3 in round two.
Out of 10 singles entries for Trinity, all but two won in the opening round and only one other failed to reach the Round of 16.
Roshin Kamath (League City, Texas / Clear Springs) started off with a 6-0, 6-1 win over Mark Armbruster from ETBU, but then fell 7-5, 6-1 to Gabriel Harris of Hardin-Simmons.
Ethan Ruppanner (Amarillo, Texas / Tascosa) lost 6-4, 6-0 in the first round to James Arens of Southwestern, while
Elvin Selimovic (Audenge, Bourdeaux, France / The International School of The Hague) fell 7-6 (8-6), 6-2 against Bernardo Clemente of Southwestern.
The #2 seeded team of Perry and Kersten began its tournament with a convincing 8-2 win over Patrick Fenner and Wyatt Fischer of Austin College. Kaczmarczyk and Dhanani, the #3 seeds, also won easily against Shu-Lun Chang and Cayven Yi of the University of Dallas (TX) 8-3. Selimovic and Ruppanner avenged their singles losses by beginning doubles play with an 8-6 win over LeTourneau's Zachary Farris and Reiman. The Tiger team of Kamath and Flores was also victorious against Garcia and Daniel Beckles from Concordia by an 8-3 score. Nikolovski and Warren faced #4 seeds Clemente and Parth Patel of Southwestern and came up short in a tough 8-7 (7-2) defeat.
Up Next
Friday's action will once again begin with singles play, which starts at 11:00 a.m. Doubles will follow with the Round of 16 at 3:30 p.m., followed by the Quarterfinals round at 5:00 p.m.
