From Carnegie Mellon University Athletics
The Carnegie Mellon University men's tennis team hosted its
annual tennis invite with Duquesne University and St. Francis (Pa.)
University September 12-14. Juniors Abhishek
Alla (Hyderabad, India / IMG Pendleton School), Kiril
Kirkov (Tampa, Fla./C. Leon King) and Kenny
Zheng (Pennington, N.J./Hopewell Valley Central) each won
three singles matches over the weekend while two double tandems
went 2-0.
All singles play matches were pro-sets to 8 while doubles on Friday
and Saturday were pro-sets and Sunday's doubles were played as
regular sets to 6.
Kirkov posted a 3-0 mark while Alla and Zheng went 3-2.
Kirkov recorded victories over Alex Aleman of Duquesne (9-8 (10-8))
and Eli Cerdan (8-3) and Washi Gervais (8-6) of St. Francis
University. Alla started the invitational with an 8-6 victory
over Gervais before topping Aleman and Adam Blasinsky of Duquesne
by the scores of 8-5 and 8-3, respectively. Zheng began play
against Chris Jimenez of St. Francis and turned in an 8-6
victory. His two other wins also came against opponents from
St. Francis winning 8-1 over Sergio Carvajal and 8-4 over Plamen
Avuski.
Senior Bryce Beisswanger (Los Angeles, Calif./Viewpoint
School) picked up two victories during singles play. He
started by downing Juan Pardo of St. Francis 8-1, before winning
9-7 over Tim Kane of Duquesne.
In doubles play, the tandem of sophomore Kunal
Wadwani (Saratoga, Calif./Ballarmine College Prep) and
freshman Matt Seifert (Mercer Island, Wash.) went 2-0 as
a doubles pair as did the freshmen duo of Jeffrey
Chen (Carmel, Ind.) and Connor O'Kelly (Lake Forest,
Ill.).
Wadwani and Seifert defeated Mehdi Mekaoui and Andrew Ong of
Duquesne, 7-6 (7-4) and Lawson Barter and Eli Cerdan of St. Francis
University 6-4. Chen and O'Kelley won 6-2 over Mekaoui and
Ong before topping Plamen Avuski and Lawson Barter of St. Francis
University 8-6 to end the invitational. Chen recorded a third
doubles victory when he teamed with senior Will
Duncan (Newbury Park, Calif./Newbury Park), as the tandem
downed Jimenez and Carvajal of St. Francis 6-4.