Over the weekend the Washington men’s tennis team competed in the ITA Regional Championships in Stockton, California where over a hundred players met in one main draw for the tournament’s title. Several UW players took part across the singles and doubles matches, including sophomore Amit Batta and freshmen Jack Davis who played into the round of 32 in their respective singles matches.
The tournament was Batta’s first of the fall, and he won his matches with momentum, going (6-0, 6-1) in the first match and (6-2, 7-5) in the second. Davis faced more challenges in his rounds, playing three sets in which he lost his second set (6-7(4)) but ultimately won the match. From there Davis went on to the next round to win (6-3, 7-5) but the following day the Huskies lost their place in the singles main draw.
Many of the players had the chance to continue to in the competition through their doubles and consolation rounds, with junior Piers Foley teaming up with junior Kawika Lam in doubles after junior Enzo Sommer, Lam’s previous doubles partner, dropped out of the competition due to injury. Foley and Lam in their first match together played a long back and forth of games against Fresno ultimately winning (8-7(5)). In their next game where they advanced to the round of 16 Foley and Lam were defeated (8-6) and so ended the Huskies place in the main draw.
Throughout the consolation rounds however, the Washington team was able to show its skill as Foley, Lam, freshman Alexis Alvarez and junior Sebastian Hawken all advanced to the third round. The pool of players became smaller as the rounds continued and the Huskies went up against themselves in the quarterfinals with Foley and Hawken going (7-6(3), 7-6(3)) in a match that took tiebreakers for both sets where Foley came out with the win. In the semifinals Foley’s time in the tournament came to a close as he lost (7-6(4), 6-4).
Reach contributing writer Elizabeth Swanberg at sports@dailyuw.com. Twitter: @EWSwanberg
