ST. PETER, Minn. – Gustavus Adolphus College is set to host the 2016 Men’s ITA Midwest Regional Championships and the 2016 Midwest Open in St. Peter, Minnesota this weekend. The tournaments will run from Friday, September 30 through Sunday, October 2 and will feature 31 of the top teams in the region at seven sites throughout St. Peter and Mankato.
More than 200 of the top players in the Midwest will take part in the tournaments. The first round singles matches in the Midwest Open are scheduled for 9 a.m. The first round matches in ITA singles championship begin Friday at 10:15 a.m.
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.
2016 ITA All-American Mohanad Alhouni (Jr., 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 (Jr., Eagan, Minn.) of Gustavus.
ITA Regional doubles competition will begin Friday at 3:15 p.m. The duo of Abban/Lukasz Jaworski of Carthage College will enter the tournament as the top-seeded doubles team. They will be challenged by second-seeded Alhouni/Patrick Whaling (So., Manikob Sabot, Va.) of Gustavus, third-seeded Luke Elifson/Marty Beck of the University of St. Thomas, and fourth-seeded Ekstein/Tommy Entwistle (Jr., Sioux Falls, S.D.) 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), St. Peter High School, Veterans Park in St. Peter, Mankato East High School, and Bethany Lutheran College in Mankato.
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)
“HS” = High School Courts (East side of St. Peter High School, four blocks north of the Gustavus entrance near 7th and Grace)
“V” = Veterans Field Courts (North 5th Street ten blocks north and two blocks east of the Gustavus entrance)
“W” = Mankato West High School (1351 S. Riverfront Drive Mankato, MN 56001)
“B” = Bethany Lutheran College in Mankato. (700 Luther Dr, Mankato, MN 56001)
The singles and doubles champions from the ITA Regional Championships will advance to the ITA National Small College Championships. The ITA National Small College Championships are 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.
The ITA National Small College Championships began in 1986 and annually crowns men’s and women’s singles and doubles national champions in each of the ITA’s four small college divisions (NCAA Divisions II and III, NAIA and Junior/Community College). The ITA National Small College Championship is the only national championship event for singles and doubles at the NCAA Division II and NAIA levels. It is also the only tournament that combines all levels of Junior/Community College (NJCAA Divisions I and III and the California division). The singles and doubles champions at each divisional level will then compete to become the overall “Super Bowl” champions. The “Super Bowl” champions earn wild cards into the ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships with the opportunity to win the culminating event held at the USTA-Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.
As the governing body of collegiate tennis, the ITA promotes both the athletic and academic achievements of the collegiate tennis community. The ITA, which was founded in 1956 and is based in Skillman, N.J., administers numerous regional and national championships, the ITA Collegiate Summer Circuit, presented by the USTA, and the ITA Rankings for men’s and women’s tennis at the NCAA Divisions I, II and III, NAIA and Junior College levels. The ITA also has a comprehensive awards program for players and coaches to honor excellence in academics, leadership and sportsmanship.To learn more about the ITA, click here.