The men’s tennis team opened up its 2012-2013 season competing in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) South Atlanta Regional Championships over the weekend. The Eagles, who are the defending Division III National Champions, advanced three singles players to the semifinals and one to the final, while the duo of juniors Nick Szczurek and Jackson Isaacs claimed first place in the doubles draw.
“I think Emory represented itself very well in the tournament,” sophomore Eric Halpern said. “It was good to see the hard work paying off, and with Nick and Jackson coming through, it is huge.”
This year, the tennis team is attempting to live up to the legacy of Dillon Pottish (’12C) and Chris Goodwin (’12C), who graduated last May. Goodwin defeated Pottish to win the NCAA Singles National Championship in 2011, and Pottish recovered to win the Championship in 2012.
Head Coach John Browning is not one to ignore such a significant loss, but nonetheless he has high hopes for his team this year.
“This is an entirely new team,” Browning said. “You cannot underestimate the loss of those great players, but at the same time, the guys who played on the team last year did a remarkable job in stepping up in the tournament and played extremely well.”
On the first day of the tournament, the Eagles won 22 of their 23 singles matches and all 12 of their doubles matches.
Notably, number two-seeded sophomore Ian Wagner came back from losing the first set of his first match 3-6 to win his second and third sets 6-1 and 6-0 in addition to winning his second watch, while four-seed Halpern and eight-seed sophomore Alex Ruderman also won a pair of matches.
“The first day, we only lost one match, and I think that is one of the first times we have ever done that,” Browning said. “I was extremely impressed with the guys who were a part of the national team last year. They have to fill the shoes of Goodwin and Pottish, and they proved that they can handle that burden.”
On the doubles side, Szczurek and Isaacs made their presence known quickly, defeating the top-seeded doubles team in their first match 8-2, in addition to winning their other match of the day. The second-seeded doubles team of Wagner and senior Elliott Kahler also won both of their Friday matches, 8-2 and 8-2.
“[Szcurek and Issacs] were obviously heavy underdogs going into that tournament,” Browning said. “They just worked extremely well together, and it was an amazing effort.”
On Saturday, Kahler, Halpern and Ruderman all earned spots in the singles semi-finals. Each had to defeat teammates to get there – Kahler beat freshmen Rafe Mosetick 7-6, 2-6, 6-4, while Ruderman defeated Wagner 6-4, 6-3 and Halpern emerged victorious against both junior Dylan Wright (6-2, 6-1) and Szczurek (6-3, 6-3).
“You hate to see your teammates lose,” Szczurek said. “But you have to be a competitor and try and win against your teammate.”
In doubles, three teams earned berths in the semifinals. Isaacs and Szczurek had to beat teammates freshman Will Adams and freshman Eric Brinzenskiy 8-3, while the teams of Mosetick and junior Eric Seidelman and Kahler and Wagner also advanced.
In singles action, Ruderman was the only Eagle to advance to the finals, after defeating teammate Kahler 6-1, 7-6. He lost, however, in the finals. Though he took the first set 6-1, he lost a close second set 7-5 and then lost control of the match in the third set, losing 6-1.
In doubles, Isaacs and Szczurek posted an upset in the semifinals, defeating the third-seeded team 9-8, winning the tiebreaker 7-1. In the finals, they faced teammates Kahler and Wagner, the second-seeded team in the tournament, who they beat 9-7.
“We didn’t know what had happened at the moment,” Szczurek said of when he and Isaacs won. “I did not expect that to happen. We just played out of our minds, out of our level.”
As a result of their win, Isaacs and Szczurek earned All-American honors. On the way to their championship, they defeated the top three seeds in the draw.
The two players will next play in the ITA Small College Regional Championships over Oct. 11-14.
“This was an incredible feat on their part,” Browning said. “It was an amazing effort, especially considering neither of them were on the team last year in terms of the guys who went to nationals, and they walked away [from the ITAs] with All-American honors. That is pretty cool.”
Overall, the team played well and provided the freshmen players with a chance to compete at a collegiate level.
“It [the tournament] is mainly for the freshmen, to see how they perform under pressure,” Halpern said. “But it’s also a lot of fun for the upperclass guys too.”
Sunday afternoon, the Eagles dedicated one of their tennis courts to former coach Don Schroer.
“The reason why Emory tennis has had success is because of [Schroer’s] vision, dedication and complete building of this program,” Browning said. “Any success [we] have, we should be thanking Don because he is the one who put Emory tennis on the map.”
– By Bennett Ostdiek
The Emory Wheel was founded in 1919 and is currently the only independent, student-run newspaper of Emory University. The Wheel publishes weekly on Wednesdays during the academic year, except during University holidays and scheduled publication intermissions.
The Wheel is financially and editorially independent from the University. All of its content is generated by the Wheel’s more than 100 student staff members and contributing writers, and its printing costs are covered by profits from self-generated advertising sales.
