Alla Dominates in USTA/ITA National Semifinal Victory

(FT. MYERS, Fla.) - Carnegie Mellon University sophomore Abhishek Alla (Hyderabad, India/IMG Pendleton School) played a dominating match to win 6-2, 6-0 in the semifinal of the USTA/ITA National Small College Championship on Friday morning in Ft. Myers, Fla. With the victory, Alla becomes the second male Tartan to play for an ITA National Singles Championship.

Alla faced off against sophomore Sam Geier of Kenyon College in the semifinal with Geier serving first. Geier won the first game before Alla ran off 12 of 13 for the straight set victory.

Alla will now match up against No. 3 seed sophomore Skylar Butts of Claremont-Mudd-Scripps who defeated No. 2 seed Oliver Loutsenko of Skidmore College 6-3, 6-2 in the other semifinal. The two sophomores will begin their match at 9:45 a.m.

The Tartans have had success at the ITA National Small College Championships as Kayvon Fatahalian won the men's singles championship in 2000 and Amy Staloch the women's singles championship in 2005 while Laura Chen played for the national championship in 2009 as a freshman. Two doubles teams also played for the national championship as Staloch paired with Mona Iyer in 2004 and Chen paired with Courtney Chin in 2011.