NASHVILLE – The Tennessee Tech tennis team wrapped up play at the USTA/ITA Regional Championships this weekend. The Golden Eagles are part of the Ohio Valley region and played the tournament at host school Vanderbilt University.
Doubles play was the highlight of the tournament for Tech as the combination of junior Alex Arovin and Alberto Esteban finished the regional with a 4-1 record. They posted four straight wins before falling 1-6, 7-6(6), 10-5 in the semifinals to eventual champions Gonzalez Austin and Rhys Johnson from Vanderbilt.
The duo opened with a win over Chattanooga's Nic Wilson and John Peacey, winning 8-7 (1). Their second challenge was another in-state foe in Tennessee's Andrew Dromsky and Igor Smelyanski, a pair that was seeded fifth overall in the regional. Arovin and Esteban got the best of the ranked twosome, winning 8-4. Next up was a match with Northern Kentucky's Mate Virag and Jody Manginly, and the Golden Eagles bested the Norse pair, 8-6. Arovin and Esteban then took on a conference foe from Eastern Kentucky. Alex Alvero and Juanjo de la Llera represented the Colonels in the showdown, however Arovin and Esteban took the match 8-6, advanciing them to the quarterfinals where they lost to the eventual champs.
Junior Alvaro Cintas and freshman Eduardo Mena paired up as well for the doubles bracket, going 1-1. They opened with a win versus UTC's Luke Saunders and Nick Wingord, 8-3. Cintas and Mena then dropped an 8-4 decision to Austin and Johnson.
In individual play, Arvoin entered the meet as the seventh seed. He finished the weekend 1-1, after receiving an opening round bye because of his ranking. He followed the bye with a win over Jeremy Schneider from Xavier, 6-0, 6-3, but lost to eventual quarterfinalist Daniel Valent, 6-0, 6-4.
Cintas, Mena and Esteban each opened the meet with singles losses. Cintas rebounded in the consolation bracket, topping Wilson of UTC, 6-3, 7-5. He then took on Will True from Murray State, winning in a marathon match, 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-2. Zach Mueck of Xavier would be the next victim of Cintas' quality play, as the Golden Eagle topped the Musketeer, 6-7 (4), 6-2, 10-7. Following those two lengthy matches, Cintas lost to Dima Zhymantovich of Middle Tennessee, 6-1, 6-1.
Esteban lost his opening match to Richie Kruuenberg of Morehead State, 7-6, 6-4. He then took on Sam O'Neill of Butler, winning 6-4, 7-5. In his final individual match, Esteban faced de la Llera of EKU, dropping the match, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4.
Mena went 0-2 in the individual outing, losing 7-5, 6-2 to Victor Hoang of MTSU in the opening match and Lucas Alexander of Ball State, 6-4, 6-2 in the consolation match.
The Golden Eagles will head back to Vanderbilt for the final fall tournament as they are set to compete in the Vanderbilt Open from Oct. 31 through Nov. 2.
