Strong Doubles Play Lifts #7 Men’s Tennis Over #12 Case Western Reserve in UAA Championship Opening Round
(ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, Fla.) - The Carnegie Mellon University men's tennis team won its University Athletic Association (UAA) Championship quarterfinal match with an 8-1 decision over Case Western Reserve University on Friday, April 21. The Tartans, ranked seventh in the nation, are now 16-7 on the season while the 12th-ranked Spartans move to 19-5. It marks the 11th straight season that the Tartans advance to the semifinals of the championship tournament. The three-day event is being held at the Sanlando Park Tennis Complex in Altamonte Springs, Florida.
Carnegie Mellon came from behind in all three doubles matches to take a 3-0 lead heading into singles play. The number three doubles tandem of senior Kenny Zheng (Pennington, N.J./Hopewell Valley Central) and freshman Michael Rozenvasser (Haworth, N.J./Northern Valley Regional) started the scoring with an 8-6 win after trailing 6-3. The Tartans' second point came when the Cardinal and Gray top doubles team of sophomore Daniel Levine (Highland Park, Ill./Boca Prep International School) and freshman Mark Prettyman (Fairfax, Va./Thomas Jefferson) fought back from a 6-7 deficit to win 9-7.
The Tartans final doubles point came when the duo of junior Jeffrey Chen (Carmel, Ind./Carmel) and sophomore Chaz Downing (Newport Beach, Calif./Corona Del Mar) took third doubles by the score of 9-8 (7-1). The tandem trailed 7-5 before taking an 8-7 lead and then winning the tiebreaker 7-1.
Zheng recorded the first point in singles play with a 6-1, 6-1 victory at fourth singles to give the Tartans a 4-0 lead. Minutes after Zheng's win, Rozenvasser sealed the team victory with a 6-2, 6-4 decision at second singles. Also, picking up wins in singles play was Levine at first singles winning, 3-6, 6-1, 10-7, Downing at the third spot by the scores 6-3, 6-1 and senior Kiril Kirkov (Tampa, Fla./C. Leon King) won 7-6 (7-6), 7-6 (7-5) at six singles.
The Tartans advance to face second-ranked Emory University on Saturday, April 22 at 2:00 p.m. in Altamonte Spring, Florida.