CLAREMONT, Calif. – Mohanad Alhouni (Sr., Tripoli, Libya) and Patrick Whaling (Jr., Manakin Sabot, Va.) competed in the NCAA Men’s Tennis Individual Championships on Thursday and came out with mixed results. Alhouni won his first two singles matches to advance to the national quarterfinals, while he and Whaling lost in the first round of the doubles tournament.
In singles play, Alhouni started the day with a 6-4, 6-0 win over Harry Shephard of Washington & Lee and then topped Alexis Dimanche of Southwestern 7-6 (6), 6-1. Alhouni advances to the round of eight for the first time in his career and will face Grant Urken of Bowdoin at 11 a.m. Friday.
In doubles action, Alhouni and Whaling lost in the first round 6-7, 6-1, 3-6 to Chaz Downing and Daniel Levine of Carnegie Mellon.
It was also announced at the championships banquet that Alhouni received the ITA Senior Player of the Year award. The No. 1-ranked player in the nation, Alhouni won the 2017 ITA Oracle Cup Division III singles championship, earning him a spot in the 2017 Oracle ITA National Fall Championships. His career singles record to date is 108-29, while his doubles mark finished at 98-33. A three-time ITA regional singles champion, Alhouni is also a four-time NCAA singles qualifier and a three-time NCAA doubles qualifier. He’s a three-time ITA All-American in singles and a two-time All-American in doubles. The Gusties’ team captain, Alhouni is a four-time All-MIAC honoree and an ITA Scholar-Athlete.
“It was a special first day at the NCAA championships,” Head Coach Tommy Valentini said. “Mohanad put together two solid singles performances. He was calm and poised at the end of the first set in each match and used those moments for momentum in each second set. In the doubles he and Patrick played at a very high level and competed extremely well. Unfortunately they came up just short today in a tough three-set match. It marks the end of an amazing partnership in which they became two-time All-Americans, brought out the best in one another, and made incredible progress over the last two seasons. They have represented our program beautifully. Now, Mohanad will look to recover and be ready for another exciting challenge tomorrow morning.”