ST. PETER, Minn. – Gustavus Adolphus College is set to host the 2017 Men’s ITA Midwest Regional Championships and the 2017 Midwest Open in St. Peter, Minnesota this weekend. The tournaments will run from Friday, September 29 through Sunday, October 2 and will feature several of the top teams in the region at eight sites throughout St. Peter and the surrounding area.
More than 200 of the top players in the Midwest will take part in the tournaments. The first round singles matches in the ITA Regionals and the Midwest Open are scheduled for 9 a.m. on Friday.
For the first three rounds of singles in the Midwest Open, matches will be two out of three sets with a 10-point tiebreak for the third set. In the ITA main draw singles, all matches will be two out of three Full Sets. On Saturday and Sunday, all singles matches in both tournaments will be full two out of three sets.
For doubles, all matches will be eight-game pro-sets until the finals of both the ITA and the Midwest Open. The finals of both doubles tournaments will be two out of three sets with a 10-point tiebreak for the third set.
Back-to-back ITA singles champion Mohanad Alhouni (Sr., Tripoli, Libya) of Gustavus comes in as the No. 1 overall seed in the ITA Regionals singles draw. Behind Alhouni sits second-seeded Brady Anderson of Coe College, third-seeded Herman Abban of Carthage College, and fourth-seeded Zach Ekstein (Sr., Eagan, Minn.) of Gustavus.
ITA Regional doubles competition will begin Friday at 3:15 p.m. The duo of Mohanad Alhouni and Patrick Whaling (Jr., Manikob Sabot, Va.) of Gustavus will enter the tournament as the top-seeded doubles team. They will be challenged by second-seeded Zane Navratil/Jimmy Engelhart of Wisconsin-Whitewater, third-seeded Josh Pudlo/Luke Ford of the Coe College, and fourth-seeded Tommy Entwistle (Sr., Sioux Falls, S.D.)/Chase Johnson (Jr., Golden Valley, Minn.) of Gustavus.
The Swanson Indoor Tennis Center, located on the west edge of the Gustavus campus, will serve as headquarters for the ITA Midwest Regional Championships, with matches also taking place at the adjacent Brown Outdoor Tennis Complex, Gibbs Complex (also located on the Gustavus campus), Veterans Park in St. Peter, Mankato East High School, Prairie Winds Middle School, Bethany Lutheran College, Le Sueur High School, and Le Center High School.
On the draws, locations are listed as follows:
“S” = Swanson Tennis Center and Brown Tennis Courts 1-12 (Northwest corner of Gustavus campus)
“G” = Gibbs Courts (7th Street, next to the Gustavus campus front entrance)
“V” = Veterans Field Courts (North 5th Street ten blocks north and two blocks east of the Gustavus entrance)
“E” = Mankato East High School (2600 Hoffman Rd., Mankato, MN 56601)
“PW” = Prairie Winds Middle School – Mankato (1200 Prairie Winds Dr., Mankato, MN 56001)
“BL” = Bethany Lutheran College in Mankato. (700 Luther Dr, Mankato, MN 56001). Take Hwy 22 South to Mankato. Follow N Riverfront Dr. to N 6th St. in Mankato. Follow N 6th st. Take East Elm Street to Luther Drive.
“LS” = Le Sueur High School (901 Ferry St. Le Suer, MN 56058)
“LC” = Le Center High School (228 W. Tyrone St. Le Center, MN 56057)
The singles and doubles champions from the ITA Regional Championships will advance to the ITA Oracle Cup. The ITA Oracle Cup is comprised of the eight regional champions (and/or at-large selections) from NCAA Divisions II and III, NAIA, and junior/community colleges. Over 8,000 student-athletes from NCAA Division I, II, III, NAIA, Junior and Community Colleges compete at one of the 84 ITA Regional Championships held across the country.