Chris Raimondi—Sports Editor
Kennesaw State’s men’s tennis team continued its hot start to the 2014-15 season this weekend with a series of wins at the ITA All-American Championships and the Georgia Tech Invitational.
KSU sent a pair of international youngsters to Tulsa, Oklahoma to compete in the ITA All-American Championships. Sophomore Simon Pritchard, native of Wales, and Freshman Alejandro Valencia, Colombia, participated in the pre-qualifying contest.
Pritchard earned a 6-2, 6-2 straight-set victory over Ole Miss’ Vinod Gowa in the first found. In the second round, Pritchard got off to another quick start by grabbing the first set 6-3 over University of Maryland Baltimore College’s Jaan Kononov. Pritchard’s run ended after the first set as Kononov rallied for two straight sets, 3-6, 3-6, and eventually advanced past round three to the final round and claimed victory to make it out of the pre-qualifying tournament.
Valencia dropped his first round match in a tight three sets, 6-1, 3-6, 7-6, but came back to win his consolation match decisively, 6-2, 6-1. “Simon and Alejandro played really well in Tulsa,” KSU head coach Eduardo Rincon said. “Both of the matches they lost were heartbreakers and both of their wins were significant.”
Just down I-75, another group of Owls were in competition in Atlanta at the Georgia Tech Invitational. Sophomore Jake Bouchillon and freshman Manuel Castellanos brought home the championship in doubles with two victories over in-state foe Georgia State and one win over Atlantic Sun counterpart Florida Gulf Coast.
In singles, sophomore Drew Wendel cruised his way into the semifinals of Group C after defeating Adrian Reid of FGCU 3-6, 6-1, 6-0, and Ryan Massinople of Furman 6-3, 6-1. Wendel appeared to maintain his hot hand in the semifinals match against No. 4 seed Michael Beiler of FGCU after he took the first set 6-2. But Beiler stormed back and won the next set 6-3 and the decisive set 6-0.
Bouchillon defeated Furman’s Stefan Rhodes, 6-1, 6-3, in Group B before being bounced in three sets in the quarterfinals.
Castellanos, Will George, Evan Holvoet and David Durham also were in action in Atlanta, but all lost in the first round of their respective groups.
“We were exposed to some really good competition both in Tulsa and at Georgia Tech,” Rincon said. “It’s nice that the team realizes that their hard work does pay off. After our second tournament of the year, I have seen a lot of improvement and a lot of fight from our guys.”
The Owls’ next tournament will be in Charleston, S.C. in the College of Charleston Invitational Oct. 10-12. The ITA Regionals will be Oct. 15-20 in Athens, Ga.
