TENNIS: Seven Bulldogs advance to Super Regionals
Three women and four men earned spots at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association's Super Regionals being held at Yale and Harvard, respectively.
muscosportsphotos.com
Both the Yale men’s and women’s tennis teams kicked off October with powerful performances at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association individual competition in singles and doubles.
Singles victories at the ITA Northeast Regionals at Penn this weekend qualified Walker Oberg ’25 and Aidan Reilly ’25 for the ITA Super Regionals at Harvard, where they will join doubles team Theo Dean ’24 and Michael Sun ’23, who previously qualified. Wins in the finals of the ITA Women’s Northeast Regionals at Dartmouth earned Ann Wright Guerry ’26 and Vivian Cheng ’23 spots at their Super Regionals at home later this month. There, they will join Chelsea Kung ’23 who previously earned a spot.
“Ann Wright Guerry had a great performance at ITA regionals,” women’s head coach Rachel Kahan said. “Especially as a first year, to qualify for super regionals is very impressive. I was proud of how we competed in general and adjusted our games when needed. We are continuing to improve our doubles and making big courageous moves.”
At Super Regionals, players will vie for a spot at the ITA National Fall Championships, which will be held in San Diego from Nov. 2 to Nov. 6.
The National Championships will feature 32 of the nation’s strongest singles players in both men’s and women’s competition for a combined 64 players. In doubles, 32 of the strongest teams from each side will compete for a combined 64 doubles teams.
“I am looking forward to Harvard next weekend for Super Regionals,” Oberg said. “Looking ahead, I am excited to be back in the team environment cheering on everyone.”
In practice, Oberg noted that he has been working on his serve and backhand in anticipation of his upcoming competition. Oberg earned his Super Regionals spot after cruising to a 7–6, 6–1 victory over St. John’s Axel Vila Antuna.
Although Reilly lost the first set to the New Jersey Institute of Technology’s Nejc Skorjanc, he rebounded and secured wins of 6–0, 6–3 in the second and third sets to qualify for Super Regionals.
Sun and Dean qualified as a doubles team for the Super Regionals in an earlier round at the Northeast Regionals.
“I think all of the guys that qualified, and even most that didn’t, have been improving considerably over the last year,” men’s head coach Chris Drake said. “Aidan made some significant technical changes this summer that are paying off, and Walker has really increased his focus throughout this fall.”
Cheng earned her spot at the upcoming competition at Yale via a 6–3, 6–3 victory over Brown’s Sophia Edwards. Guerry posted a victory over Boston College’s Addie Ahlstrom in a super tie-breaker (10–5). Cheng and Guerry will compete alongside Kung, the reigning Ivy League Player of the Year in the Super Regionals.
Earlier this month, Kung played at the ITA All-American Championships where only the top 64 Women’s DI players competed in the qualifying round. In Kung’s first match of qualifying, she beat LSU’s Safiya Carrington. However, Kung ultimately fell to UCLA’s Kimmi Hance 6–1, 6–4 in the second round.
Players from both teams not competing in Super Regionals this weekend will have the opportunity to compete in other invitationals. Members of the men’s team will travel to Dartmouth, while members of the women’s team will venture to Brown. These players will get a glimpse at Ivy competition ahead of the spring season.
The Bulldogs will begin their spring season in late January. Their schedules have yet to be released.