Multiple Tartans Advance to Round of 16 at ITA Southeast Regional

(FREDERICKSBURG, Va.) – The Carnegie Mellon University men's tennis team began play at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Southeast Regional on Saturday, September 30 with three singles players advancing to the round of 16 along with four doubles pairs reaching the same round.

Junior Daniel Levine (Highland Park, Ill. / Boca Prep International School) is the top-ranked player at the tournament and he breezed through the first two rounds with a 6-2, 6-2 win against David Weltz of Dickinson College and a 6-1, 6-0 win against Derek Hagino of the University of Mary Washington. Fellow junior Chaz Downing (Newport Beach, Calif. / Corona Del Mar) also won his first two matches as the fifth-seeded player. Downing topped Jackson Guilford of Christopher Newport University, 6-2, 6-4, and Colt Williamson of Salisbury University, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2.

Freshman Ray Boppana (Boxborough, Mass. / Acton Boxborough Regional) was the third singles player to win twice Saturday. His first match of the day was against Caius Blomqvist of Averett University and Boppana, seeded ninth, won 7-5, 6-4. The first-year player then topped Ishaan Prinz of Haverford College in the round of 32, 6-2, 6-0.

Three of the four doubles teams had first round byes while senior Tommy Cheng (Cupertino, Calif. / Cupertino) and Kailas Shekar (Saratoga, Calif. / Saratoga) won twice. Cheng and Kailas opened the day with an 8-1 win against Brett Dubin and Matthew Hwang of Shenandoah University. The pair then upset the number one seed of Justin Cerny and David Reed of Christopher Newport with a 9-8 (7-4) victory.

Downing and Levine worked together as a four-seed to win 8-2 in the round of 32 to top Joseph Brown and Cole Tecce of the University of Mary Washington while freshman Ben Ash (Johns Creek, Ga. / Johns Creek) and sophomore Robert Levin (Virginia Beach, Va. / Princess Anne), seeded fifth, won 8-3 against Jack Hodges and Tetsuya Ota of Goucher College.

Boppana and sophomore Nicholas Calzolano (Hinsdale, Ill. / Hinsdale Central) are seeded ninth and picked up an 8-2 win against Nicholas Gunther and Mitchell Perry of Virginia Wesleyan University to advance to the round of 16.

Both singles and doubles play will continue on Sunday, October 1 on the campus of Mary Washington.