By Carolina Garcia, Staff Writer
Armstrong’s men’s and women’s tennis teams competed in the ITA Southeast Regionals this past weekend in Sumter, South Carolina at the Palmetto Tennis Center. The men’s team had three players advance to the round of 16 after the first day of regionals on Friday.
Junior Pablo Gor, no. 3-seeded in the singles bracket, won two singles matches. The first was win over Stefano Soares of Limestone, and the second was over Jose Batalla of Lees-McRae which propelled him into the Round of 16.
Senior Fernando Bogajo, fourth-seeded in the singles bracket, joined Gor in the Round of 16 by defeating Jason Harris of Erskine and Benedikt Wilde of Columbus State. They are joined by seventh-seeded sophomore Ignacio Hernandez who defeated Patrick Bauer of Lenoir-Rhyne and Jannik Roettlingsberger of Francis Marion.
Three Pirates suffered tough losses in the first round of the singles on Friday. Sophomore Marek Pesicka fell to Marc Hofer of Lander, and sophomore Damian Okrutny dropped against Gain Davison of Francis Marion. Sophomore Luca Cerin was also among those who faced defeat on Friday against Lukas E. Winkelmann of Tusculum.
The Pirates dominated doubles play on Friday, with both duos advancing to the Round of 16. Bogajo and Gor, fourth-seeded in the doubles bracket, clenched a win over Kierkus and Wilde of Columbus State, and fifth-seeded duo Hernandez and Okrutny downed Coulthard and Sparks of Lincoln Memorial 8-1.
The Pirates ended the first day of ITA Southeast Regionals with players moving forward to the Round of 16 in singles and doubles action.
On Saturday, junior Pablo Gor and senior Fernando Bogajo each clenched a spot in the semifinals with a pair of wins.
Gor defeated Jorge Vargas of Columbus State, as well as Benjamin Salle of Lander. Bogajo notched his spot with a 6-2, 6-3h win over Connor Kudrick of Wingate and a win over Richard Ashforth of Francis Marion.
Sophomore Ignacio Hernandez advanced to the quarterfinals with win over Thibaut Leoussoff of Lander, but fell to Martinez in the quarterfinals.
Damiam Okrutny also advanced to the quarterfinals after a win over David Espinosa of Flager and a win over Matheus Guida after Guida retired due to an injury in the first set against Okrunty. Joining him was Marek Pesicka with a win over Jules Athalis of Queens and a win over Patrick Bauer of Lenoir-Rhyne. Luca Cerin fell to Camilo Sandoval of Southern Weslyen in his consolidation match.
In doubles action, Gor and Bogajo defeated Baez and McMann of Belmont Abbey to clench a spot in the quarterfinals. Hernandez and Okrutny took on Vargas and Zoghlami of Columbus State join Gor and Bogajo in the quarterfinals.
The Pirates dominated the ITA Southeast Regionals with both singles and doubles titles. Duo Gor and Bogajo defeated Richard Ashforth and Gavin Davidson of Francis Marion to clench the title for the doubles action. This is the second straight doubles title for Gor and the duo will advance to the ITA Small College National Championships in Sumter, South Carolina on Oct. 9-12. This is also the fifth straight doubles title for Armstrong men’s tennis team.
In singles action, Bogajo defeated Lukas Winkelmann of Tusculum due to Winkelmann retiring in the second set, with Bogajo earning the singles title for Armstrong.
The women’s tennis team also earned spots in the championships in both singles and doubles action.
In singles action, the Pirates took all four spots with the final consisting of senior Clara Perez against junior Carolina Prats-Millan.
The doubles duo of sophomore Dora Andrejszki and freshman Lena Lutzeier also advanced to the doubles championship.
Prats-Millan defeated Beatriz Leon of Columbus State 6-4, 6-1 to earn her spot in the finals, while Perez defeated teammate Lutzeier 6-4, 6-4. Andrejszki and Lutzeier defeated Rebecca Bruning and Ivey Welborn of Anderson 8-3 in order to secure a spot in the doubles final, where they took on Leon and Camila Tobar of Columbus State and won with a score 9-7 to win the ITA Southeast Regional doubles title.
The finals match between Perez and Prats-Millan was halted due to weather, and the winner of that match, which is to be played on the Armstrong Campus will join Andrejszki and Lutzeier at the Small College Championships in Sumter, South Carolina on October 9-12 at the Palmetto Tennis Center.
