NORFOLK, Va.--With six Nittany Lions competing in Men's Singles at the ITA Super Atlantic Regionals in Norfolk, VA this weekend, Penn State Men's Tennis fought hard, but were ultimately defeated in tournament play. Miko Eala, Chikaya Sato, Charl Morgan, Bora Sengul, and Malik Bhatnagar punched their tickets to the Super Atlantic Regionals hosted by Old Dominion University last weekend when they advanced to the quarterfinals at the ITA Regionals. Ismail Saadi was tapped to compete as the sixth Nittany Lion for the Super Atlantic Regionals.
Day 1
In tournament play on Saturday, Saadi and Morgan fell to their respective opponents, Alvaro Ariza of Virgina Tech and Leo Raquin from Temple.
Eala, Sato, and Sengul won their matches to advance to the round of 16. Eala took on the seventh-seeded Rafael Marques Da Silva from Liberty coming out on top in a 6-3, 6-7(3), 6-2 match. Facing off against Yehven Sirous from Old Dominion, Sato took the win, 7-6(6), 6-7(3), 6-4. In a 6-1, 6-1 contest, Sengul bested Guilherme Valdoleiros of the University of Delaware.
All three Nittany Lions were unable to move forward in the next round. Knocked out by the number one seed in the tournament, the University of Virginia's John von der Schulenberg, Sengul lost 7-5, 6-4. Playing the number 2 seed—Inika Montes de la Torre of UVA—Sato was defeated 6-2, 6-3. In a 6-3, 6-0 match, Eala lost to VCU's Inigo Torre Martin.
In a four-player round-robin, Bhatnagar faced Liberty's Christian Worst, VCU's Rayane Stable, and Dimosthenis Taramonlis. Besting Worst in a 6-4, 6-4 win, Bhatnagar finished the day 1-2.
In consolation matches, Saadi was defeated by Old Dominion's Luca Maldoner, 6-4, 6-2. Morgan retired from his contest against UVA's Ryan Goetz due to injury.
Day 2
On Sunday, the Nittany Lions competed in extra matches. In narrow losses, Sengul and Eala were defeated. In his matchup versus Maxence Bertimon of VCU, Sengul lost 6-7(6), 6-3, (11-9). Eala lost to Old Dominion's Younes Lalami, 6-2, 5-7, (10-7).
Adding another win to his 9-1 fall record, Sato easily triumphed over Ariza, 6-1, 6-2. At the Penn Invitational, he came out with a 3-0 record. At the ITA Regionals, he swept again posting four more wins. He came out of the Super Atlantic Regionals 2-1, suffering his only loss of the fall season so far.
"There was a huge increase in talent level at the ITA Super Atlantic Regional, but we were in every match," said Head Coach Jeff Zinn. "Even when we got beat by the number one and two seeds in the tournament, we were right there. We are definitely on the right path. We just need to finish the fall season strong."