Demon Deacs split sites, sets
By Alex Myers
Old Gold and Black Reporter

The Deacon men’s tennis team was back in action Oct. 5-7 as the team was once again split up to compete in two different tournaments.

Five players were sent to play both singles and doubles at the ITA All-American Championship Prequalifying Tournament at the Lincoln Tennis Center in Stone Mountain, Ga., while four other members of the squad participated in singles competition at the Cingular Wireless Collegiate Tennis Classic at the Cajun Courts in Lafayette, La.
In Georgia, the team enjoyed much success in the singles tournament as four out of the five players made it as far as the fourth round, while only one player, senior Justin Kaufmann, made an early exit in the first round.

Sophomore David Loewenthal looked very impressive advancing all the way through the tournament and making it to the qualifying draw.

Loewenthal cruised through the first three rounds beating Ball State’s Andrew Seni 6-4, 6-1, Cal’s Chase Exon 6-3, 6-1 and Pepperdine’s Brian Wright 6-1, 6-1. He then knocked off Northwestern’s Jamie Sahara 7-6 (5), 6-0 in the fourth round to advance to the qualifying draw. There he lost a tough three-set match to Oggie Kolev from Arkansas 6-4, 2-6, 1-6.

Making it to the fourth round were juniors David Bere, Mike Murray and Trent Brendon. Bere knocked off Evan Fowler of South Alabama, Jacob Martin of TCU and Scott Rutherford of Wisconsin before losing in straight sets to Calle Hansen of Pepperdine 6-4, 6-1.

Murray blew out Pepe Mendoza of TCU 6-2, 6-0, and then won consecutive three set matches against Stuart Waters of Iowa and Arizona’s Whi Kim before bowing out to Minnesota’s Alex Zharinov 6-2, 6-2.

Brendon defeated Ben Johnson of Birmingham Southern 6-2, 6-0, then escaped in three sets versus Chris Wettengel of Minnesota 6-7 (5), 7-6 (5), 6-4. He then made quick work of Alstor Jenkins of Texas 6-4, 6-0, before exiting in the fourth round to Chad Harris of Vanderbilt 6-4, 6-4.

In doubles action the team of Brendon and Loewenthal performed well.

The tandem defeated a pair from Tulsa 8-5, and then took out a team from Florida 8-6. On Sunday, the duo beat a team from Minnesota 8-6, and then a team from Furman 8-3 to advance to the qualifying draw, which will take place on Oct. 9-10.

The other Deacon doubles team of Bere and Kaufmann did not have the same success losing to 8-4 to a pair from Southern Alabama in the first round.

In Lafayette, the Deacons also had some strong showings in the singles competition. Freshman Derrick Spice continued a hot start to his collegiate career by winning three matches to win his consolation bracket. Junior Rick Phillipp won his consolation bracket as well by winning three consecutive matches.

Sophomore Andrew Simpson withdrew down 2-0 in the third s \et of his second round match. Meanwhile, freshman Mirko Ivanda lost to Gui Dumas of New Orleans 6-4, 6-2 in the quarterfinals of the Singles Flight B.

Ivanda and Phillipp teamed up in the Doubles Flight B, losing 8-2 in the finals to a team from USM. The duo of Simpson and Spice were eliminated in the Doubles Flight A.
The team of Brendon and Loewenthal will continue to compete in the ITA All-American Championship. Next up for the rest of the team, the USF Fall Tournament in Tampa, Fla., which starts Oct. 12.