Men's Tennis Has Best ITA Performance Since 2005

FREDERICKSBURG, Va. – The Goucher College men's tennis team (2-0, Landmark 0-0) had its best performance at the 2017 ITA Southeast Regional since 2005, riding the coat tails of multiple underclassmen.

First-year Tetsuya Ota (Wesley Chapel, Fla.) advanced to the round of 16 in the Championship Singles flight – the furthest any Gopher has gone in the flight under head coach Brendan Kincaid. Brandon Harris was the last Gopher to advance further than Ota, when he made his way to the Championship Singles Quarterfinals in 2005.

In that same season (2005) David Sands also competed well for Goucher, advancing to the round of 16 in Championship Singles before bowing out.

Ota dominated in his first two rounds. Out of the gate, he toppled Thomas Harmon of Washington & Lee 6-3, 6-3. He went on to defeat Ian Siew of Salisbury, 6-2, 7-6 (6-4) in the round of 32. He was finally halted in the round of 16 by #14 regionally ranked (Atlantic South), David Reed from Christopher Newport. Reed took the match 6-2, 6-3. Reed continued in the tournament before being stopped in the semifinal round.

Senior Jack Hodges (Wesley Chapel, Fla.) also competed in the Championship Singles flight. He was defeated by #31 nationally ranked, Courtney Murphy, of Wilkes University, 6-3, 6-3. Murphy also finished the season ranked #9 in the Atlantic South region. Hodges rebounded in the first round consolation, defeating Zachary Shane 6-0, 6-1.

Sophomore Frankie Mullinix (Washington, D.C.) had a great weekend advancing to the B3 Singles semifinal. En route to the semifinal match, he toppled Landmark opponent, Isaac Schefer of Moravian, 6-2, 6-0. He also defeated Will Giles and Shawn Diniz before taking a loss to Paul Vecchio of Ursinus, 3-6, 6-1, 7-6 (6-4). Vecchio went on to win the B3 singles flight.

The Gophers shined in doubles play as well. Ota and Hodges won the Championship Doubles first round match against Joey Ferraro and Daniel Lynn of DeSales, 8-4. However, they bowed out of the flight in the round of 32 to Benjamin Ash and Robert Levin of Carnegie Mellon, 8-3.

Sophomore Michael Herman (Prague, Czech Republic) paired up with Mullinix in the B1 Doubles flight and took home a win in the round of 16, 8-4 over Noah Cheng and Evan Han of Swarthmore. The duo lost in the quarterfinal match, 8-3.

Junior Elliot Diehl (York, Pa.) and sophomore Slade Dumas (Great Falls, Va.) won their first two rounds in B2 doubles. They dominated 8-1 in the round of 16 and took a tight match in the quarterfinals, 9-8, 7-6 (7-5). However, they were defeated by Wornden Ly and Raymond McDermott 8-5 in the B2 doubles semifinal.

Head coach Brendan Kincaid said, "This is the most success we've had the ITA's since my arrival here at Goucher. The guys competed really well and hopefully, we can continue this success through the remainder of the year."

The Gophers continue on their fall schedule on Saturday when they host Stevenson, Penn State-Harrisburg and Messiah College beginning at 9 a.m. on the Goucher Courts.