University of Minnesota Athletics
Three Gophers Advance to ITA Main Draw
10/17/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Three of Minnesota’s four participants in the men’s singles qualifying rounds reached the main draw of the Wilson/ITA regional men’s tennis championships with straight-set wins on Friday in Columbus, Ohio.
Freshmen Julian Dehn, Philip Arndt and Michael Sicora all won three won matches to become among the eight qualifiers in the main draw, which begins on Saturday. Minnesota’s Tobias Wernet, Dino Bilankov and Sebastian Gallego were already awarded spots in the main draw. The top individual finishers advance to the Intercollegiate Tennis Association national championships Nov. 6-9 in Charlottesville, Va.
Dehn was seeded seventh in the qualifying draw and advanced with a 6-4, 6-1 win over Peter Marrack of Wisconsin. He also beat Casey Cullen of Western Michigan 6-2, 7-5 and Hermann Kuschke of Indiana-Purdue-Fort Wayne 6-1, 6-4.
Michael Sicora reached the main draw with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Rob West of Cleveland State. He also defeated Chris Herrlinger of Xavier 6-4, 6-0 and Michael O’Connell of Ohio State 6-3, 6-4.
Philip Arndt posted a 6-3, 6-4 win over Nick Camilleri of Wright State in his final qualifying match. He also posted a dramatic three-set win over fifth-seeded Michael Muskievicz of Wisconsin 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 and a first-round victory over Matthew Sherman of Dayton 6-2, 6-1.
Jake Annear was the only Minnesota player who did not reach the main draw, falling in the first round to Veron Chari of Wisconsin 6-4, 6-3.
Doubles play began on Friday afternoon with three Minnesota teams participating. Bilankov and Gallego are seeded 11th, while Sicora and Wernet and Dehn and Annear are also competing.
Players Mentioned
