ITA Mountain Regional Results

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. – The Northern Arizona University men's tennis team competed at the ITA Mountain Regional Championships this past weekend (Oct. 21-25) and brought home a combined eight victories in singles and doubles appearances. Among the top of the highlights was freshman Tim Handel who qualified for the Round of 16 in singles play after taking down the No. 9 seed Bart Van Leijsen from the University of New Mexico in straight sets 7-6, 6-1.  

"Tim played well this past week, and showed that he can compete against the best in the conference after losing to the tournament regional winner 7-5 in the third set," Head Coach Ki Kroll said.  "As a freshman, he has really distinguished himself as one of our top players.  It will be very exciting to watch his continual growth in the spring."

Handel had a bye in the first round of singles play, but entered his first match on Thursday, Oct. 22 against Van Leijsen with nothing to lose. The freshman went on to trump Ricky Hernandez-Tong from the University of New Mexico in the Round of 32 that same day 6-4, 3-6, 6-1. Picking up the remainder of singles wins were Thomas Fisher, Eden Peleg, Adi Zilberstein and Lucas Taylor.

Handel, alongside sophomore Felix Schumann, also garnered two doubles wins this weekend. In the Round of 64, the doubles pair took down the University of New Mexico's Michael Tran and Sean Baklini 8-6. Although they fell to the University of Utah in the next round, the two added another digit to the win column in the Consolation Round of 16, after a first-round bye, over University of Montana to qualify for the quarterfinals.

The 'Jacks have a quick turnaround as they are set to compete at the UNLV Easley Fall Invitational Oct. 30-Nov 1. They will wrap up the fall season the following weekend at the Grand Canyon Invitational before the spring season officially gets underway.