|
Tennessee’s
Racz, William and Mary’s Acharya capture singles
titles at ITA National Summer Championships
presented by the USTA. Harvard, Duke duos claim
doubles.
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – William and Mary’s Ragini
Acharya and Tennessee’s Chris Racz captured the
singles titles Tuesday at the Intercollegiate Tennis
Association (ITA) National Summer Championships at
the Indiana University Varsity Tennis Center. Duke’s
Melissa Mang and Tory Zawacki and Harvard’s Sasha
Ermakov and Ashwin Kumar claimed the doubles titles.
Today’s singles and doubles champions from the ITA
National Summer Championships earn wild cards into
the first national tournaments of the 2007-08
collegiate tennis season - the Polo Ralph Lauren
Men’s and Riviera/ITA Women’s All-American
Championships in October.
The ITA National Summer Championships presented by
the United States Tennis Association (USTA) are the
pinnacle of the ITA Collegiate Summer Circuit, which
was played at 24 regional sites throughout the
country last month. This year, 2,589 players have
participated in circuit events, the second highest
participation total since its inception in 1993 and
just shy of last year’s record of 2,624.
William & Mary’s Acharya of Pulaski, Va. beat Notre
Dame’s Brook Buck, in a tight 6-3, 2-6, 10-8 (match
tie-break) singles final. Acharya, a sophomore who
finished No. 12 in Fila East Region Rankings in
singles this past season, went all week without
losing a set until the final match. She upset her
third seeded player in a row in the semifinals this
morning as she beat Marshall’s No. 4 seed Kellie
Schmitt 6-4, 7-5. Buck is the first player to appear
in consecutive women’s finals since Vanderbilt’s
Amanda Fish in 2003-04. Buck, a senior from Yukon,
Okla., beat No. 2 seed Amanda Taylor of Vanderbilt
7-5, 7-5 in her semifinal match. Both Acharya and
Buck were Nos. 9-16 (alphabetical) seeds this week.
Tennessee’s Racz, a sophomore from Philadelphia,
beat Michigan’s Mike Sroczynski (Sophomore, Chatham,
N.J.), 7-6(6), 6-1 in today’s men’s final. Racz, who
went 22-8 as a freshman last year for the Vols,
upset No. 2 seed Will Gray from Tulsa this morning
in the semifinals, 7-5, 6-4. Sroczynski, a No. 5-8
seed, beat Florida State’s Chris Cloer 6-1, 6-0 in
the other semi. Racz, a No. 9-16 seed, is
Tennessee’s first ITA Summer Champion since Wade Orr
won back-to-back titles in 2001-02.
In doubles, Duke’s Mang and Zawacki and Harvard’s
Ermakov and Kumar came out with the titles. Both are
the first ITA National Summer champs from their
programs.
On the men’s side, Ermakov and Kumar, the No. 2
seeds, beat the top-seeded team of Dominic Inglot
and Houston Barrick from Virigina, 8-4. In the
semifinals yesterday, Ermakov and Kumar edged Marius
Adamski (Wake Forest) and Ted Kelly (Stanford),
winning 9-8(5) to earn their spot in the
championship.
Duke’s Mang and Zawacki pulled through with an 8-2
win over Princeton’s Taylor Marable and Rebecca
Parks in the women’s final. The Blue Devil duo upset
top-seeded Keri Robinson and Lauren Lui from
Northwestern, 9-8(4), in yesterday’s semis to earn
their spot in the championship.
“I think what helped us win this tournament was the
confidence we had in ourselves and in each other,”
Zawacki said. “Especially in the match against the
Northwestern team - that was the hardest match of
the tournament - I really think what carried us was
our confidence.”
The runners-up in each draw earned wild cards into
the All-American qualifying tournaments.
This is the seventh straight year IU is serving as
tournament host.
Over 22,000 men and women have competed in circuit
events since it began in 1993. The circuit is the
brainchild of Indiana head women’s tennis coach Lin
Loring and provides college tennis players the
opportunity to compete in organized events virtually
year round. It is made up of six regional circuits
(East, Southeast, Midwest, Central, Southwest and
West) and each region consists of four consecutive
tournaments played during the month of July, leading
up to the ITA National Summer Championships.
Complete draws and results are available on the IU
and ITA websites at www.iuhoosiers.com and
www.itatennis.com/Summer07/championship.htm
###
Past ITA National Summer Champions
Men's Singles
1994 - Ryan Juinio, Fresno State
1995 - Marc Engel, Northern Illinois
1996 - Adam Peterson, Southern California
1997 - Marc Silva, Northwestern
1998 - Adam Seri, Georgia
1999 - Huntley Montgomery, Virginia
2000 - Brian Vahaly, Virginia
2001 - Wade Orr, Tennessee
2002 - Wade Orr, Tennessee
2003 - Chris Martin, Illinois
2004 - Avery Ticer, Minnesota
2005 - Eric Langenkamp, Notre Dame
2006 - Jordan DeLass, Georgia Tech
Men's Doubles
1996 - Adam Peterson, USC/Jim Thomas, Stanford
1997 - Brook Blain, Michigan/Brady Blain, Illinois
1998 - Geoff Abrams, Stanford/Ed Carter, Arizona
State
1999 - Scott Eddins, TCU/Nathan Zeder, Illinois
2000 - Ed Carter, Arizona State/Brian Vahaly,
Virginia
2001 - Amer Delic, Illinois/Michael Calkins,
Illinois
2002 - Wade Orr, Tennessee/Lee Walker, Memphis
2003 - Chris Martin, Illinois/Evan Zeder, Illinois
2004 - Ross Wilson, Ohio State/Scott Green, Ohio
State
2005 - Drew Eberly, Ohio State/Chris Klingemann,
Ohio State
2006 - Paul Rose, Purdue/Kurt Zaske, Purdue
Women's Singles
1994 - Tina Samara, Georgia
1995 - Tina Samara, Georgia
1996 - Melissa Zimpfer, Wisconsin
1997 - Cristina Moros, Texas
1998 - Holly Parkinson, BYU
1999 - Julie Ditty, Vanderbilt
2000 - Marlene Mejia, North Carolina
2001 - Jennifer McGaffigan, Illinois
2002 - Sadhaf Pervez, Ohio State
2003 - Jennifer McGaffigan, Illinois
2004 - Alexis Prousis, Northwestern
2005 - Caitlin Burke, Wisconsin
2006 - Beier Ko, Harvard
Women's Doubles
1995 - Bonnie Bleeker, Florida/Tina Samara, Georgia
1996 - Katie Schlukebir, Stanford/Melissa Zimpfer,
Wisconsin
1997 - Cristina Moros, Texas/Julie Scott, Stanford
1998 - Stephanie Nickitas, Florida/Julie Scott,
Stanford
1999 - Julie Ditty, Vanderbilt/Jennifer Embry,
Purdue
2000 - Lauren Kalvaria, Stanford/Gabriela Lastra,
Stanford
2001 - Erica Fisk, Ohio State/Monica Rincon, Ohio
State
2002 - Jennifer McGaffigan, Illinois/Kathleen
McGaffigan, Wisconsin
2003 - Kendall Cline, North Carolina/Kendra Strohm,
Texas
2004 - Lauren Bruch, Virginia/Douglas Wink, Virginia
2005 - Sarah Batty, Indiana/Laura McGaffigan,
Indiana
2006 - Brooke Buck, Notre Dame/Kelcy Tefft, Notre
Dame
|
