TULSA, Okla. (September 30, 2018) – Northern Arizona Men's Tennis had another eventful day in the ITA Men's All-American National Championship as
Lucas Taylor was able to make it to the finals in the pre-qualifying stage.
After the first two rounds of pre-qualifying on Saturday Sept. 29, the Lumberjacks only had Taylor remaining in the bracket. Both
Facundo Tumosa and Ruben Monatna were eliminated from pre-qualifying and entered the consolation bracket.
Taylor was able to have an exceptional morning as he had a big win over Ohio State's Alex Kobelt. Taylor won in just two sets, 6-4 and 7-6. With this win Taylor moved onto the final of the pre-qualifying round where he took on Tennessee tech's Rafael Tosetto. Unfortunately Tosetto was on his game today and was able to win in two sets. Although losing the final, Taylor is on the Lucky Loser list for the tournament which means if a qualified singles player can't participate tomorrow he will take their place.
In the consolation bracket Tumosa lost in just two sets, 6-7 and 4-6 to Georgia Southern's Murphy McCullough. Whereas Montana was able to win his consolation match against NC State's Joseph Schrader in two sets, 6-4 and 6-4.
Tomorrow marks the first day of the ITA Men's All-American Championships qualifying singles where NAU's Tim Handle will start his tournament at 8:30 MST a.m. against Baylor's Matias Soto. Handle will look to improve upon his first round elimination in 2017.
Handle will also begin his doubles portion of the ITA Men's All-American Championship, where he will team up with fellow Lumberjack Montana. The two are returning double partners from the 2018 spring season where they went 2-6. The duo will take on Iowa's Kareem Allaf and Jonas Larsen at 12:30 MST p.m.
"It's a great opportunity to compete against the best players in the nation and get ready for the spring," Handle said. "The goal is to make it to the main draw first in singles and doubles and just see how far I can make it."
