Levine Sets Combined Wins Record on First Day of ITA Southeast Regional Tournament
(FREDERICKSBURG, Va.) - With three wins on Friday at the ITA Southeast Regional Singles and Doubles Tournament, senior Daniel Levine (Highland Park, Ill. / Boca Prep International School) set a new school record for all-time combined wins with 142. His last win on Friday topped the previous record held by James Muliawan who starred for the Tartans from 2006-2010.
Levine's day began with doubles win in the round of 32 with senior teammate Chaz Downing (Newport Beach, Calif. / Corona Del Mar), 8-2, against Ryan Hellinger and Alex Matisse of Johns Hopkins University. Levine and Downing are seeded first for the tournament and will continue action on Saturday at 8:00 a.m. against William Trang and Nick Ruzicka of Christopher Newport University.
Following doubles play, Levine, the number one seed, walked past Stefan Hein of Salisbury University, 6-0, 6-1, in the singles round of 64. He then faced Simon Verneir of Swarthmore College and won 6-1, 6-1.
Others advancing in doubles play on Friday were junior Robert Levin (Virginia Beach, Va. / Princess Anne) and senior Yannick Bloem (Geneva, Switzerland / EPFL, Lausanne). The pair received a bye before topping Ryan Macy and Andy Mason of Christopher Newport, 8-6. Freshman Sam Gibson (Chico, Calif. / Pleasant Valley) and freshman Clark Safran (Stanford, Calif. / Menlo School) won their round of 64 match, 8-4, before falling in the round of 32 in a tiebreaker to Bobby Neuner and Mitchell Thomas of Washington and Lee University, 8-7 (9-7). Sophomore Ray Boppana (Boxborough, Mass. / Acton Boxborough Regional) and junior Nicholas Calzolano (Hinsdale, Ill. / Hinsdale Central) also received a bye before defeating Samuel Coan and Leonid Sorkin of Dickinson College, 8-3.
Sophomore Joshua Pinckney (Atlanta, Ga. / The Westminster Schools) and freshman Kunal Barde (Sunnyvale, Calif. / Archbishop Mitty) upset eight-seed Ted Tiu and Frankie Fortunati of Catholic University of America in the round of 64 by an 8-2 score. The pair then fell to Joseph Brown and Michael Fleming of the University of Mary Washington, who received a first-round bye, 8-5.
In singles action, Boppana defeated Ruzicka, 6-2, 6-1, and topped Canon Secord of Bridgewater College, 6-0, 6-2, to advance to the round of 16. Downing also won twice on Friday advancing to the round of 16 along with Boppana and Levine. Downing's first singles match of the day was a 7-5, 6-1 win against Joseph Cartledge of Johns Hopkins. As the sixth seed, Downing then faced Kukutla Motlojoa of Southern Virginia University and won, 6-1, 6-3.
Action will continue on Saturday with the round of 16 for both singles and doubles competition. Doubles play begins the day at 8:00 a.m.