College Tennis News - Strong First Day For Dawgs At Regionals

Nedunchezhiyan, Drabble, and McMorrow progress into the third round.

BERKELEY, Calif. – The fall tennis season began in earnest for the Husky men today at the ITA Northwest Regional Championships. Three Huskies moved on into the third round of singles play, and two freshmen notched the first singles wins of their college careers.

The Northwest Regional event is one of 12 individual tournaments throughout the nation over a two-week span and funnels the singles and doubles champions on to the ITA National Indoor Championships next month. Eight players ranked in the top-100 are on hand this weekend at Cal’s Hellman Tennis Complex.

Freshman Kyle McMorrow went 2-0 in his UW-debut, rolling past Sky Lovill of Cal, 6-3, 6-3 in the first round and then topping Fernando Ristow of Pacific, 6-3, 6-1 in the second round. McMorrow will face ninth-seed Mirko Zapletal of Fresno State on Saturday.

Junior Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan received a first round by as the tourney’s No. 3-seed. In the second round, he easily handled Tommie Murphy of Cal, 6-2, 6-1. Also advancing through to round three was senior Derek Drabble. The hard-serving South African beat Tyler Lee of UC Davis, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 in the first round, then beat Michael Carreno of St. Mary’s, 6-4, 6-2.

Freshman Nick Tchernikov won his first match in impressive fashion, beating Nick Gwerder of Sacramento State, 6-0, 6-2, but he came up short in his late match against William Schumacher of San Francisco.

Junior Skyler Tateishi also had a first round win over Toki Sherbakov of UC Davis, but was stopped in the second round.

Saturday begins with the first two rounds of doubles play, followed by the third round in singles and consolation singles first round matches.

Washington Men’s Tennis

ITA Northwest Regional Championships

10/23/09 – Berkeley, Calif.

Hellman Tennis Center

Singles

Round of 128

(17) Derek Drabble (UW) def. Tyler Lee (UCD), 6-3, 3-6, 6-3

(17) Kyle McMorrow (UW) def. Sky Lovill (Cal), 6-3, 6-3

Skyler Tateishi (UW) def. Toki Sherbakov (UCD), 6-4, 7-5

Nick Tchernikov (UW) def. Nick Gwerder (Sac St), 6-0, 6-2

Sherif Hamdy (SMC) def. (17) Tobi Obenaus (UW), 7-5, 6-3

Vegerd Veskimagi (Pac) def. Alex Rosinski (UW), 6-3, 6-4

Marko Starcevic (Sac St) def. Matt Stith (UW), 7-5, 6-4

(3) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (UW), BYE

Round of 64

(3) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (UW) def. Tommie Murphy (Cal), 6-2, 6-1

(17) Derek Drabble (UW) def. Michael Carreno (SMC), 6-4, 6-2

(17) Kyle McMorrow (UW) def. Fernando Ristow (Pac), 6-3, 6-1

(17) Bo Katsarov (Cal) def. Skyler Tateishi (UW), 6-2, 6-4

William Schumacher (USF) def. Nick Tchernikov (UW), 7-6 (5), 6-0

Michael Bruscas

Assistant Director, Athletic Communications

University of Washington

Volleyball, Track & Field, Cross Country, M/W Tennis

Office: (206) 543-2331

Email: mbruscas@u.washington.edu

www.gohuskies.com