ROME, Ga. – Representing the Gustavus men’s tennis team at the 2017 ITA Oracle Cup Thursday at Rome Tennis Center at Berry College, Mohanad Alhouni (Sr., Tripoli, Libya) advanced to the semifinal round of the singles draws while the duo of Alhouni and Patrick Whaling (Jr., Manikob Sabot, Va.) fell in the first round of doubles.
The No. 1 seeded Alhouni took part in the Division III Singles Draws Thursday morning, defeating Jeremy Yuan of the University Chicago 6-3, 6-4. Alhouni will face the No. 4 seed Jonathan Jemison of Emory University in the semifinal round tomorrow at 9 a.m. (EST).
As the No. 1 seed in the Division III Doubles Draws, Alhouni and Whaling were upset by Robert Carter and Zach Hewlin of Whitman College 6-7, 6-4, 4-10. The pair will face Hagino/ Hughes of Mary Washington at 1:30 p.m. (EST) in the consolation bracket.
“In the doubles, Mohanad and Patrick played large portions of the match at a very high level and had a look at it in the end,” Valentini commented. “The Whitman team played extremely well and came up with some big time shots in both tiebreaks. In a lot of ways the match was an important step forward for Mo and Patrick. They did a number of things well, and learned a lot from this one. We look forward to another great opportunity for them tomorrow against another excellent opponent.”
Formerly known as the Small College Nationals, the ITA Oracle Cup has history dating back to 1986, and it is the only singles and doubles national championship event for the Division III and NAIA levels. This year, more than 8,000 players took part in a total of 60 regional tournaments to gain entry into the ITA Oracle Cup field.
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Head to the ITA Oracle Cup event page to view draws, daily recaps, photo gallery links, as well as find live scoring information. You can also follow the conversation on Twitter by following @ITA_Tennis and using the hashtag #OracleCup. |