All six singles advance, two doubles teams reach quarter-finals at NJCAA men's championship; team fourth
PLANO, Texas - All of Mesa's singles players won their first round matches and the No. 3 doubles team has reached the semi-finals at the rain-delayed NJCAA Division I Men's Tennis National Championship.
Mesa was fourth after the first two days of play with 25 points. ASA and Tyler are tied with 30 points each and ABAC has 29.
No. 1 Harry Busby (So., England), who is seeded third, took down Erk Eldagsen, of Cowley County, 4-6, 6-2, 6-0. He will play Nicolas Rouanet, of Vincennes, Wednesday at 6:00 a.m. Arizona time. All times mentioned will be AZ time.
Max Wightman (Fr., Scottsdale, AZ/Desert Mountain H.S.) seeded fourth and playing at No. 2, defeated Mouhamed Gueye, from Spartanburg Methodist 6-1, 6-1. He will move on to meet fifth-seeded Ciro Lampasas, of Tyler, at 6:00 Wednesday.
In the No. 3 singles match, sixth-seeded Nick Silvestri (Fr., Scottsdale, AZ/Notre Dame Prep H.S.) knocked off Samuel Blackburn, of Mississippi Gulf Coast, 6-2, 7-5 and will move forward to face No. 1-seeded Stephan Watson, from ASA (Fla.), at 7:15 a.m. Wednesday.
At No. 4,Vitalli Kotelianets (Fr., Ukraine), seeded fourth at No. 4, defeated Adam Ruckman, of Lewis and Clark, 6-0, 6-2 and moves on to play Zach Pitman, of Collin, Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.
Andy Nguyen (So., Bien Hoa, Vietnam/Hamilton (AZ) H.S.), the No. 5 seed at No. 5 beat Gavin Grivel, of Laredo, 6-3, 6-2. He will take on third-seeded Tare Mariga, of Seward Co., Wednesday at 7:30 a.m.
Kevin McMahon (So., Tempe, AZ/Corona del Sol H.S.) Seeded sixth at No. 6, topped Justin Horvath, from Prairie St., 6-1, 6-0. McMahon will face fourth-seeded Kenhan Dishman, of Seminole (Okla.) State, Wednesday at 7:30 a.m.
In doubles, at No. 1 Busby and Wightman, the second seeds, defetaed Cody Collins and Nathaniel Pinkney, of Itawamba, 6-4, 6-1, and then fell to fifth-seeded Zachary Northey and Logan Powell, of Tyler, 6-3, 6-3.
Kotelianets and Nguyen topped fourth-seeded Paul Arslanian and Tare Mariga, of Seward Co., 6-2, 6-4. They then defeated fifth-seeded Juan Bermudez Jorge Godoy, of Cowley, 7-6 (5), 6-2 to reach the semi-finals.
The No. 2 team of McMahon and Silvestri square off against Antonio Hernandez and Steve Waynick, of Elgin, in the consolation bracket at 1:45 p.m.