Oct. 23, 2007
PRINCETON, N.J. - Top-seeded Nittany Lion senior Michael James (Clifton, Va.) capped off his impressive run through the singles draw at the Wilson/Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Northeast Regional Championships on Tuesday by steamrolling his way to his first career regional singles crown with straight sets victory over Harvard's Dan Nguyen (6-1, 6-0).
In addition to his tournament victory, James earned a berth into the prestigious ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships in Columbus, Ohio, by advancing into Tuesday's singles finale. The national indoor tournament will run from Nov. 1-4.
"For Michael to lose one set in the tournament showed how focused he was throughout his run," said head coach Todd Doebler. "He did a great job competing for every point, and capped the tournament off with a flawless match in the finals. It will be a great honor to have Michael represent Penn State and our region at the ITA National Indoors next week."
The Nittany Lion senior first picked up a straight sets victory in the semifinals over Dartmouth's Mark Brodie. James cruised to the first set, 6-2, and then finished off Brodie with a 7-5 victory in the second, which sent him into the finals.
James moved on to face Nguyen in the finale. The Lion veteran never gave Nguyen a chance to get into the match. James opened up with a dominating 6-1 victory in the first set. He went shutout Nguyen in the second to secure the championship (6-0). In all, James, who is ranked 35th in the ITA national rankings, relinquished only one set in his march through the 128-player singles draw. He now holds a stout 14-3 record thus far in the fall.
In the doubles final, the Nittany Lion team of Brendan Lynch (North Potomac, Md.) and Ryan Gormley (Las Vegas, Nev.) were not quite as fortunate as James. Lynch and Gormley had their great run come to a close on Tuesday with an 8-1 loss to No. 7 seed Bogden Borta and Justin Chow of Columbia. The Nittany Lion duo fall to 8-2 on the year.
Brendan Lynch and Ryan Gormley pose with head coach Todd Doebler after a runner-up finish in doubles at the Wilson/ITA Northeast Regional Tennis Championships |
"Brendan and Ryan had a great run playing some outstanding doubles to get into the finals," said Doebler. "Unfortunately, they ran into a very hot Columbia team that played a great match today. A lot of their success can be attributed to the fact that the bought into the way we hope to play doubles this spring. It was great to see our third doubles team in the finals."
James will be the next Nittany Lion in action, as he will travel to Columbus for the 2007 ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships from Nov. 1-4. The fall season will conclude with the Big Ten singles tournament in Ann Arbor on Nov. 9-11.
Wilson/ITA Northeast Regional Championships - October 23, 2007
Singles
Semifinals:
(#1) No. 35 Michael James (PSU) def. (#12) Mark Brodie (DARTMOUTH), 6-2, 7-5
Finals:
(#1) No. 35 Michael James (PSU) def. (#9) Dan Nguyen (HARVARD), 6-1, 6-0
Doubles
Finals:
(#7) Bogden Borta/Justin Chow (COLUMBIA) def. Brendan Lynch/Ryan Gormley (PSU), 8-1
*Seed number in parenthesis