Men's ITA Midwest Regional
2006 Men's Wilson/ITA Midwest Regional
Hosted by Gustavus Adolphus College
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Jesse Brauer
Gustavus Adolphus College 2006 Wilson/ITA Midwest Region Singles Champion |
Charlie Paukert & Mike Burdakin
Gustavus Adolphus College 2006 Wilson/ITA Midwest Region Doubles Champions |
Sunday Recap
Players from Gustavus Adolphus captured both the singles and doubles titles at this weekend's Wilson/ITA Midwest Region Men's Tennis Championships at Gustavus. After surviving a tie-breaker in their morning semifinal, the fifth-seeded tandem of Mike Burdakin and Charlie Paukert took down top-seeded Gustie teammates Jesse Brauer and Andy Bryan in the doubles final 6-4, 1-6, 10-8. Burdakin and Paukert were pushed to the limit in the semifinals by a third Gustavus doubles team, Nick Hansen and Ben Tomasek, but prevailed 9-8 (6). For both Brauer and Bryan, it was the end of a long, strenuous day. Both took out higher seeds in Sunday's Wilson/ITA singles semifinals to reach the midday final. Bryan defeated second-seeded Dan LaFountaine of Grinnell 6-2, 6-2, while Brauer felled top seed Aaron Sunday of St. Norbert 6-0, 7-5. Matched up in the singles final, the doubles teammates split the opening sets with Bryan taking the opening set 6-4, with Brauer bouncing back in the second set 6-2 to tie match. The pair played to a tie-breaker in the final set, with Brauer edging his doubles partner by a score of 8-6.Brauer and Burdakin and Paukert advance to the Oct. 12-15 Intercollegiate Tennis Association National Small College Championships at Florida Gulf Coast University in Fort Myers.
Also contested Sunday was the final of the Midwest Open singles tournament, won by Brett Gressick of UW-Eau Claire 6-0, 7-5 over Alex Mory of UW-Whitewater. Gressick reached the final with a 3-6, 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7-6) win over Gustavus' Will Butzlaff in a Sunday morning semifinal.
Saturday Recap
Gustavus Adolphus College has virtually guaranteed itself of one pair of tickets for the ITA National Small College Championships and has two chances to secure the other on Sunday. The three remaining teams in the Wilson/ITA doubles draw hail from Gustavus, as do two of the four semifinalists in the Wilson/ITA singles draw. The tournament will conclude Sunday with singles semifinals in both the Wilson/ITA and the Midwest Invite draws beginning at 9 a.m. on the Brown Tennis Courts, with the singles finals to follow at approximately 11:30 a.m. The remaning Wilson/ITA doubles semifinal will take the court at 11 a.m., with championship doubles finals in both tournaments beginning at approximately 1:30 p.m.
Wilson/ITA Singles
Of the four players that remain in the Wilson/ITA Singles draw, top-seeded Aaron Sunday of St. Norbert and second-seeded Dan Lafountaine of Grinnell may have been tested the most. Facing Mike Burdakin of Gustavus in a Round of 16 singles match, Sunday needed a tie-breaker to win the first set 7-6 (6), dropped the second set 6-1 and rebounded to win the third set 6-3. Sunday then faced 14th-seed Jack Schiro of Carthage, who himself survived a three-set match to open the day. Sunday advanced to Sunday's semfinals where he will face fourth-seed Jesse Brauer of Gustavus a straight-set winner over both teammate Claudio Bravo (6-3, 6-2) and fifth-seed Ryan Yao of Coe (6-3, 6-1). Lafountaine dropped the first set in his match against Jordy Kamerling of Concordia-Moorhead, but rebounded to take the next two sets to advance. Lafountaine picked up a straight-set win over Gustavus' Charlie Paukert (6-3, 6-3) to advance to the semifinals. Sixth-seeded Andy Bryan of Gustavus will face Lafountaine after beating third seed Miguel Yunes of Carthage 6-3, 6-3 in the quarterfinals.
Wilson/ITA Doubles
Jesse Brauer and Andy Bryan, the top-seeded doubles team in the tournament, advanced to the Sunday's final with three wins. Brauer and Bryan defeated Phil Hamood and Sergio Lopez 8-0 in the Round of 16, seventh-seed Julian Tokarev and Peter Varnum of Carleton 8-2 in the quarterfinal and 11th-seed Maxwell Busch and Utsab Rijal 8-2 in the semifinal. Busch and Rijal advanced to the semis only after surviving a tie-breaker with sixth-seed Steven Klaas and Alexander Lowe of UW-Whitewater 9-8 (4).
Brauer and Bryan's opponent has not yet been determined as the second semifinal was moved to Sunday morning at 11 a.m., but it is assured to be an all-Gustavus Wilson/ITA doubles final. One half of Sunday's semifinal, unseeded Nick Hansen and Ben Tomasek picked up an 8-6 victory over 12th-seed Jordy Kamerling and Paul Tuchscherer of Concordia-Moorhead in the quarterfinals to advance. Kamerling and Tuchscherer were 8-4 winners over third-seed Jono Martin and Brad Nelson of Luther in the Round of 16. Fifth-seed Mike Burdakin and Charlie Paukert defeated tenth-seed Ryan Yao and Joe Lankelma of Coe 8-2 to advance to the quarterfinals, where they upset the second-seeded team of Nate Fox and Dan LaFountaine of Grinnell 8-6 to move into the semifinals.
Midwest Singles
UW-Whitewater teammates Alex Mory and David Stefanik comprise one of two Sunday semifinals in the Midwest Open singles draw. Gustavus' Will Butzlaff will face Brett Gressick of UW-Eau Claire in the other semifinal. Stefanik may have had the longest day of the four on Saturday, needing three sets in each of his matches, including a quarterfinal win over his regular doubles partner, Erich Palecek. Gressick needed three sets in his quarterfinal to move past Luke Odegaard of Saint John's (3-6, 6-4, 10-8), while Butzlaff and Mory each picked up a pair of straight-set wins.
Midwest Doubles
Bjorn Hanson and Thomas Orser of Luther captured the Midwest Open doubles championship with an 8-2 win over Joel Cassens and Jordon Lefebvre of Bethel. Hanson and Orser advance to the final with wins over Jose Garcia/Austin Stewart of Dubuque (8-1), Scott Bean/Eric Ice of Gustavus (8-4) and Erich Palacek/David Stefanik of UW-Whitewater (8-5). Cassens picked up wins over Kyle Olson/Krishan Jethwa of Gustavus (8-5), Daniel Glinert/Joseph Holguin of Loras (8-4) and Scott Martin/Nate Jung of Luther (8-5) to reach the finals.
Friday Recap
For the most part Friday, the seeds held true in both the singles and doubles draws at the 2006 Wilson/ITA Midwest Regional Championships at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minn. 13 of the top 16 singles seeds and 10 of 12 seeded doubles tandems advanced to the round of 16. Host Gustavus Adolphus advanced seven singles players and seven doubles teams. Seven other schools (Carleton, Carthage, Coe, Concordia-Moorhead, Grinnell, Luther, UW-Whitewater) have representatives remaining in both the singles and doubles draw.
Wilson/ITA Singles
Each of the top six seeds remain in the singles draw of the Wilson/ITA Championships. Top-seeded Aaron Sunday of St. Norbert posted a pair of wins Friday and will face #11 seed Mike Burdakin of Gustavus in Saturday morning's fourth round. Grinnell's Dan Lafountaine (second seed) dropped only one game in two matches and advances to face Concordia-Moorhead's Jordy Kamerling, the 16 seed. Third-seed Miguel Yunes of Carthage will meet #10 Colin Russell of Carleton in the fourth round. Yunes gave up only five games in a pair of matches, while Russell was extended to third-set super tie-breakers in each of his two matches. Fourth-seed Jesse Brauer of Gustavus will face unseeded teammate Claudio Bravo, while fifth-seed Ryan Yao of Coe is pitted against 13th-seeded Maxwell Busch of Luther. Gustavus' Andy Bryan, the sixth seed, will battle unseeded teammate Aaron Zenner for a spot in the quarterfinals.
Wilson/ITA Doubles
Jesse Brauer and Andy Bryan, the top-seeded doubles team in the tournament, advanced to the round of 16 with an 8-2 win over St. Olaf's Nick Crnkovich and Ian Pray. Up next for them is the duo of Phil Hamood and Sergio Lopez of Carthage. The second-seeded team of Dan Lafountaine and Nate Fox of Grinnell were tested in their opening match, prevailing 9-7 over Tim Eisele and Philip Loprinzi of UW-Eau Claire in what may have been one of the most exciting matches of the day. Lafountaine and Fox will face Gustavus Chad Olson and Theo Roth on Saturday. The third-seeded team of Jono Martin and Brad Nelson of Luther and the fifth-seeded team of Mike Burdakin and Charlie Paukert of Gustavus advanced to Saturday, but the fourth-seeded team of Miguel Yunes and Jack Schiro fell 9-8 (5) in their opening match to Gustavus' Claudio Bravo and Ashok Jethwa. Martin and Nelson will face Jordy Kamerling and Paul Tuchscherer of Concordia-Moorhead on Saturday afternoon, while Burdakin and Paukert are matched up against Ryan Yao and Joe Lankelma of Coe in Saturday's third round.
Midwest Singles
Gustavus and Saint John's each advanced four players to the round of 16, while UW-Whitewater added three more. In fourth round matchups between the three schools, Brian Laumeyer (Gustavus) will face Erich Palecek (UW-Whitewater), Dan Ruehl (Saint John's) will face David Stefanik (UW-Whitewater) and Eric Ice (Gustavus) will face Dutch Hansen (Saint John's).
Midwest Doubles
Tandems from 11 different schools remain in the doubles draw at the Midwest Invite. Gustavus leads the way with three duos, while Luther, Concordia (Wis.) and UW-Whitewater each have a pair.
Singles play in both the Wilson/ITA tournament and the Gustavus Midwest Invite will begin at 9 a.m. on the Brown Tennis Courts, with quarterfinal action to follow at 11:30 a.m. Doubles play is scheduled to begin at 1:30 p.m. with three rounds of play being contested on Saturday.
Gustavus Adolphus to Host
Wilson/ITA Midwest Regional Championships
The Wilson/ITA Men's Division III Championships at Gustavus will feature the 24 of the top schools in the region. The singles and doubles champions from this weekend's tournament advance to the Oct. 12-15 Intercollegiate Tennis Association National Small College Championships at Florida Gulf Coast University in Fort Myers.
Ninety-two of the top singles and doubles players in the Midwest will take part in the tournament which will begin with singles matches on Friday morning at 9 am. Aaron Sunday of St. Norbert College is the #1 seed in the singles draw. Other seeds include second seeded Dan LaFountaine of Grinnell, third seeded Miguel Yunes of Carthage, and fourth seeded Jesse Brauer of Gustavus. The doubles competition will begin on Friday afternoon immediately after the completion of the third round of singles play. Jesse Brauer and Andy Bryan of Gustavus are the #1 seeded team. Other seeds include the second seeded team of Nate Fox and Dan LaFountaine of Grinnell, the third seeded team of Jono Martin and Brad Nelson of Luther, and the fourth seeded team of Miguel Yunes and Jack Schiro of Carthage. The Swanson Indoor Tennis Center, located on the west edge of the Gustavus campus, will serve as headquarters for the Wilson/ITA Midwest Region Championships, with matches taking place at Swanson and the adjacent Brown Outdoor Courts, as well as the Gibbs Tennis Courts, which are situated just north of Gustavus main (East) entrance.
The ITA National Small College Championships began in 1986 and annually crowns men's and women's singles and doubles national champions in each of the ITA's four small college divisions (NCAA Divisions II and III, NAIA and Junior/Community College). These championships are the only national tournaments for singles and doubles at the NCAA Division II and NAIA level, and the only tournaments that combine all levels of Junior/Community Colleges (NJCAA Divisions I-III, and California Community Colleges). Participants are determined through these Wilson/ITA Regional Championships, which serve as qualifying tournaments. The national champions from each division square off in the "Super Bowl" of Small College Tennis to determine the overall ITA National Small College Champions (who then earn berths into the ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships, a Division I event, in November).
As the governing body of collegiate tennis the ITA promotes both the athletic and academic achievements of the collegiate tennis community. The ITA, which was founded in 1956 and is based in Skillman, N.J., administers numerous regional and national championships, the ITA Collegiate Summer Circuit, presented by the USTA, and the ITA Rankings for men's and women's tennis at the NCAA Divisions I, II and III, NAIA and Junior College levels. The ITA also has a comprehensive awards program for players and coaches to honor excellence in academics, leadership and sportsmanship. The official ITA website is www.itatennis.com.
