SALEM, Va. -- The Men's tennis team had two players qualify to play in the ITA regional men's Championship this past weekend at Mary Washington College. Twenty nine colleges sent 160 players players to the event where the top Division 3 players on the east coast compete in both singles and doubles. The players were flighted by their UTR rankings for a championship flight and from there B1 through B4 flights .
Jack Fishwick led the tournament off for the Maroons in the B1 flight with a huge win over Nicholas Calzolano from Carnegie Mellon with a score of 6-4, 6-2. The Carnegie Mellon player had a big game and Fishwick had his best performance to date as a player for Roanoke College. In his next match Fishwick lost to Noah Cheng from Swarthmore College. 6-3, 6-3. The match featured long and intense baseline rallies.
Next up for the Maroons was Grayson White who competed in the B4 flight. Grayson lost a hard fought battle to Larry Scartz of Wilkes College, 7-5, 6-2. White then rebounded in the consolation round with a strong come from behind victory over Jonathan Noble of Arcadia College by the score of 5-7, 6-2, 10-1 (tiebreaker). Grayson played with his usual intensity and that gave him the edge as the match wore on. In his final consolation match Grayson lost to Daniel Christian of Lynchburg College 6-3, 6-1.
In doubles the Fishwick/White duo competed in the B1 flight. They lost their opening match to Sam Bellerson and Andrew Pace from Franklin and Marshall, 8-5. In the consolation round the Maroon duo then ran off two straight victories. Fishwick/ White defeated Defaber- Schumacher/ Mandel of Ursinus 8-5 in a well played match. In their next match the Maroon duo won the most impressive doubles victory for a Roanoke College doubles team in recent memory, with a 8-4 win over Bassett/ Blonquist, a very strong team from Southern Virginia. The Maroons were led by some strong returns of service by White on critical points and Fishwick held serve to close the match out. This win propelled the team to the consolation finals, but for scheduling reasons the finals were not played.
This tournament concludes the competitive portion of the fall schedule and Coach Ragsdale will continue to prepare the team for its spring Schedule.
