Tennis Excels at the USTA/ITA Southeast Regional Tennis Championships

FREDERICKSBURG, VA - The Hampden-Sydney College Tennis team recently participated at USTA/ITA Southeast Regional Tennis Championships at Mary Washington University. Several players excelled as the Tigers look to win the ODAC Championship this year.

Rich Pugh (Augusta, GA/Lakeside) and Shad Harrell (Richmond, VA/Mills Godwin) both participated in the Championship singles draw. Pugh was seeded ninth and started off the round of 64 by defeating Garrett Mertl 6-4, 7-6(5) to advance to the round of 32. In the round of 32 he would need a comeback, but after losing the first set to Riley Baver 4-6 he easily won the next two sets 6-3 and 6-0 to advance to the round of 16. In the next round, Pugh faced the #6 seed Gianandrea Heyer and lost the exciting and closely contested first set 7-5 but could not stage another comeback and lost the second set 6-2. Harrell lost his 64-round match to #9 seed Warren Elgort 6-1, 6-1 to move into the consolation bracket. In the consolation bracket, he faced Garrett Widing and fell 6-1, 6-3.

Kevin Calhoun (Richmond, VA/Mills Godwin) participated in the B1 singles draw and started the round of 16 with a dominating 6-0, 6-1 victory against Christian Carcione to advance to the quarterfinals. Calhoun battled throughout, but Alex Applet was able to dispatch Calhoun in the quarters by a score of 7-5, 6-4.

Tal Covington (Gainesville, VA/Flint Hill) lost in the first round of the B2 singles 6-2, 6-4 to go to the consolation bracket where he had a fabulous run. In the consolation quarters, he defeated Anthony Rosselli 6-2, 6-3. The semifinals proved to be a marathon match against James Lee. Covington went down 6-7 in the first set and bounced back in a big way with a 6-2 second set win to set up the decisive third set. The third set was an epic set as Covington and Lee would not back down, fighting back and forth. Covington ended up winning 15-13 in what proved to be the longest set of the tournament. With a consolation finals match in hand, Covington took down his opponent, Brad DeWitt to win the consolation championship. 

Zack Pack (Keysville, VA/Randolph-Henry) played in B3 singles and lost both of his matches 6-1, 6-3 in the round of 16 and 6-2, 6-3 in the consolation quarterfinals.

Ian Sammler (Prince George, VA/Prince George) and Ryan Davis (Roanoke, VA/Cave Spring) each took the court in the B4 singles. Sammler started with a 6-1, 6-2 win over Zak Bartley in the round of 16 but was defeated 7-5, 6-1 in the quarters by Thomas Whaling. Davis advanced the furthest of any Tiger in the tournament. He started his run with a 7-5, 6-3 victory over Andrew Deckert in the first round. He followed it up with a quarterfinal victory by a score of 6-2, 6-4 to advance to the semi-finals. Colin Jones ended his run however, as he fell 6-1, 6-4.