Sports analyst Callie Hummel breaks down the competition for both the men’s and women’s teams.
On Oct. 2, men’s tennis began their week-long competition at the ITA Men’s All-American Championship. This is the 16th year that the University of Tulsa has hosted this fall national championship, an event which has 98 different schools represented this year with 400 singles players and 88 doubles teams.
Seniors Kody Pearson and Stefan Hampe both competed in Main Draw Singles and together as a doubles team in the Main Draw. Sophomore Callum Gale and junior Adham Gaber also competed in the Main Draw Doubles and Qualifying Singles along with senior Daniel Siddal, juniors Ezequiel Santalla and Connor Di Marco and freshman Matthan Tharakan.
The first matches of the tournament took place on Oct. 2 with the prequalifying men’s open singles. Tharakan, ranked nine, fell to a UT Arlington player, ranked 10, with a 4-6, 3-6 final score. In the consolation match on Oct. 3 ranked 85, he fell to University of Wisconsin, ranked 86, 4-6 and 2-6.
In qualifying singles, Di Marco, Santalla and Siddal fell in regular play and consolation on Oct. 4 and Oct. 5. Gaber lost his first game but in the consolation bracket won his match 7-5 and 6-0.
In the main draw for singles, Hampe fell to Ohio State with a 1-6, 4-6 loss. Pearson took his first match against Florida with a big 6-2, 7-2 difference before also falling to Ohio State.
The women’s team has also been competing in the All-American tournament, consisting of 64 teams which started on Oct. 4 in South Carolina. Directly before this tournament, the team played in the Baylor Invitational in Waco, Texas. The doubles team consisting of Ana Naranjo Martinez and Lily Hutchings completed the tournament with a 4-0 record, allowing them to leave the tournament undefeated. The pair also ended the tournament winning the doubles championship against Arizona State with a 6-4 score.
Martinez and Hutchings did not compete in the All-American tournament , so Shura Poppe and Laia Conde Monfort took their place as the doubles team for the tournament. However in the first round of the tournament they fell to Florida State. The doubles team went onto the consolation bracket, where teams play one game instead of two, and lost to Auburn 5-8.
Poppe played in the singles Qualifying Draw as well, and in the early days of the tournament fell in the first round to a Cal State player 0-6, 0-2. Moving to the consolation bracket, she went up against San Diego and lost 4-6, 4-6.
Monfort also played singles as well in the Main Draw, but lost to a Pepperdine player in the first round but found success in the consolation bracket. After defeating a player from Georgia 6-3, 6-4, she was rewarded with a bye. In the quarterfinals she fell to Princeton 1-6, 6-7.
As the tournaments both end on Oct. 10, the women will be back in action on Oct. 21 with a five day tournament at the ITA Regional Championship in Des Moines, Iowa. The men’s team will be playing in the same ITA Regional Championship Oct. 21-Oct. 5 but will be located in Lincoln, Nebraska.
