From University of Chicago Athletics
For the first time in program history, University of Chicago men's tennis players Tyler Raclin and Jeremy Yuan won the doubles title at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Oracle Cup on Saturday.
Raclin and Yuan were one of eight NCAA Division III doubles teams who reached the ITA Oracle Cup via winning their respective ITA regional championships. As the No. 4 seeds, the UChicago duo earlier won two-straight matches to reach the final, where they took on the No. 2 seeds from Bowdoin College. The Maroons proved up to the challenge, rallying back to knock off the Polar Bears in three sets – 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.
With the doubles title in hand, Raclin/Yuan moved on to the Oracle Cup doubles draw as the Division III representative to take on the champions from NCAA Division II, NAIA and JUCO. They drew Georgia Gwinnett College for their next match and ultimately absorbed a 6-3, 6-3 defeat.
Yuan had a busy day, as he was also playing in the singles bracket as the No. 8 seed. In the fifth-place match, the Maroon first-year lost a close decision 5-7, 7-6, 6-4 to Chase Lipscomb (University of Redlands).
"Tyler and Jeremy have gelled as a team over the past few weeks and have learned how to fight alongside one another," said Head Coach Jay Tee. "In four of their last five D3 matches, it looked like they were going to lose, but instead they come back from out of nowhere to win. Yesterday they were down 8-6 in the super breaker and again today in the finals, they got down big and looked shaky at times; but they dig in and fight rather than pack it in. As good as Jeremy has been – and he's been good – Tyler led the way emotionally and gave Jeremy a lot of confidence. I'm very happy for them and look forward to seeing what else they can do together the rest of the season."