Marion, IN – The Lawrence Technological University men's tennis team participated in the ITA Regional Tournament this week, hosted by Indiana Wesleyan University.
In the men's singles main bracket, Alex Tammaro won his first two matches (7-5, 6-1) and (6-0, 4-6, 15-13) respectively, to get to the round of 16, to face off against 7-seed Alejo Bagnera from Huntington. Bagnera defeated Tammaro (7-6 (7), 6-1), ending Tammaro's tournament.
Other Blue Devils participating in this bracket were Nils Hammarsten and Pedro Garcia-Orellana, who both lost in their first-round matchups and were moved to the consolation draw.
Garcia-Orellana won his second-round consolation match handily, winning (6-1, 6-0). Hammarsten was not as successful, as he lost (4-6, 6-3, 10-7) in the super tiebreaker of the match.
Garcia-Orellana defeated McNamar of Marian (6-2, 6-3) to face Huntington's Turaba in the consolation quarterfinals, a match where Turaba was overmatched. Garcia-Orellana advances to the semifinal after the 6-1, 6-0 victory. He advanced to the championship by default, but then lost the championship by default as LTU did not make a return to Marion for the consolation championship match on Saturday.
In the men's singles B draw, Jannis Schneider swept his first opponent (6-0, 6-0) to move on to the round of 32. He also picked up a match win in that round by default, taking him to the round of 16. Rafael Rezende-Mendes also won his first match (6-4, 6-4), to move onto the round of 32. Alex Rajal reigned victorious in his first set (6-3, 6-1) to vault him into the round of 32. Diego Colombo had a first-round bye, advancing him to the round of 32 as well. Their teammate Lukas Obel, however, was unable to make it out of the first round losing his match (6-3, 3-6, 10-7) in the super tiebreaker set.
Rezende-Mendes advanced to the round of 16 with an 8-0 set and Rajal advanced with a 6-0 set, but Colombo fell (8-6). Colombo was moved to the B consolation draw since he did not have a first-round match. Obel also moved to the B consolation draw.
In the men's singles B consolation draw, both Colombo and Obel made it far, reaching the semifinals and the championship respectively, but they were both taken down by Spring Arbor's Ryan MacLean in his route to the title.
In the main draw action of the men's doubles bracket, Putschbach / Schneider lost their set 8-1 to 5-seed Steiner / Wurth adding them to the consolation draw. Tammaro / Hammarsten also got added to the main consolation draw, moving them up from the B draw. Tammaro / Hammarsten lost their round of 16 match, eliminating them from contention. Putschbach / Schneider reached the championship but they lost 8-4 to Ameller / Mussi from Huntington.
In the men's doubles B draw, Rajal / Roth defeated Amburgy / Faucett from Mount Vernon Nazarene 8-2 to advance to the round of 16. Rajal / Roth lost to Giles / Kuklak from Marian, ending their tournament.
Their next event is October 15 at 9am against Lake Superior State.
