From University of Chicago Athletics
The University of Chicago men's tennis team dug deep in singles and captured third place at the University Athletic Association (UAA) Championship with an 8-1 victory against Carnegie Mellon University on Sunday.
The No. 13-ranked Maroons finished the regular season with a 16-5 record and will wait to see if they are selected to the NCAA postseason as an at-large bid. The third-place showing was their best since 2011 (third place). The No. 10-ranked Tartans finished fourth in the UAA with a 15-9 overall record.
UChicago, the fifth seed, kept its strong doubles play rolling and swept all three doubles spots against third-seeded CMU. The senior duo of Deepak Sabada and Ankur Bhargava won at No. 1 doubles 8-4, while freshmen Nicolas Chua and David Liu took No. 3 doubles by a score of 8-3. The No. 2 doubles spot came down to a tiebreak, with freshman Luke Tsai and sophomore Max Hawkins emerging with a 9-8 (7-5) victory.
With a three-point lead in the bank, the Maroons needed to win only two of six singles contests to get the team victory. Tsai was the first one done at No. 5 with a 6-2, 6-2 win. However, the Tartans kept things tense by winning at No. 2 and also forcing decisive third sets in three of the four remaining matches. Just like he did on Friday against Case Western Reserve University, Sabada provided the team victory at No. 3 singles with a 7-6 (10-8), 7-5 decision. Chua, Liu and freshman Peter Leung all ended up winning their three-set matches as well.
"Overall, this was an incredible weekend for our guys and I'm so happy for them and our seniors," Head Coach Jay Tee said. "Some people may just see a third-place finish, but I see a group of men who took on the 12th, 2nd and 10th ranked teams in the country on consecutive days in the heat of Florida and laid it all on the line and came away with some fantastic results. Our two wins avenge first-round losses from the last two UAA tournaments and really strengthen our credentials for a NCAA Tournament bid.
"I also need to recognize our seniors for the role they played all year," Tee continued. "Without their leadership and clutch wins, we wouldn't be where we are now. For Ankur and Deepak to win that doubles match today and then for Deepak to clinch another team victory was special to see. I'm happy they stuck it out through some tough seasons and saw it through. Their hard work and dedication to the team was definitely rewarded this weekend."
UChicago 8, Carnegie Mellon 1
Singles
1. Nicolas Chua (UC) def. Abhishek Alla (CMU) 4-6, 6-2, 6-4
2. C. Heaney-Secord (CMU) def. Sven Kranz (UC) 6-3, 7-5
3. Deepak Sabada (UC) def. Will Duncan (CMU) 7-6 (10-8), 7-5
4. Peter Leung (UC) def. Kunal Wadwani (CMU) 6-4, 4-6, 6-3
5. Luke Tsai (UC) def. Kiril Kirkov (CMU) 6-2, 6-2
6. David Liu (UC) def. Kenny Zheng (CMU) 4-6, 6-2, 7-6 (7-2)
Doubles
1. Deepak Sabada/Ankur Bhargava (UC) def. C. Heaney-Secord/Will Duncan (CMU) 8-4
2. Luke Tsai/Max Hawkins (UC) def. Bryce Beisswanger/Yuvraj Kumar (CMU) 9-8 (7-5)
3. Nicolas Chua/David Liu (UC) def. Kenny Zheng/Edward Ang (CMU) 8-3