ITA Midwest College Tennis Regional Dominated by Big Ten

At the University of Notre Dame, men from the Big Ten are dominating the ITA Midwest Regional Championships.  The event is one of 12 around the country.  Singles players and doubles teams are fighting to win a wildcard into the ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships, to be held in November at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York.

In the singles event, there’s only one player left who is not from the Big Ten, Casey Watt, who defeated Northwestern’s Spencer Wolf in the first round in a tough 5-7,6-3,6-3 match.  Watt will be facing top-seeded Chase Buchanan of Ohio State, who earned his spot in the quarterfinals with a 6-3,7-6(2) win over Illini Abe Souza.  Devin McCarthy upset third-seeded Jason Jung of Michigan to set up a match with teammate Matt Allare, a winner over Notre Dame’s Stephen Havens.

The bottom half of the singles draw  includes Buckeye Blaz Rola, the No. 5 seed, who defeated Notre Dame’s Greg Andrews and will play Illinois’ Dennis Nevolo, who beat Northwestern’s Josh Graves.    Buckeye Balacz Novak (No. 14) took out the second-seeded Marek Michalicka of Wisconsin and will meet Michigan’s Evan King, a winner over Daniel Stahl of Notre Dame, 1-6,6-7,3-6.

Men’s doubles are only into the second round, but Big Ten teams are still alive, holding 10 of the 16 spots in the event.  Chase Buchanan and Blaz Rola of Ohio State are the top seeds in the draw.

Play will continue at the ITA Midwest Regional Championship through Monday.