Alvarez and Spaks claim another doubles title as part of strong Tech showing in the James O’Connell Memorial Tournament
MASON, Ohio – A second-consecutive doubles championship by Alex Alvarez and Davids Spaks helped highlight another strong weekend of action for the Tennessee Tech tennis team in the James O’Connell Memorial Tournament.
By Dylan Vazzano, TTU Athletics Media Relations
MASON, Ohio – A second-consecutive doubles championship by Alex Alvarez and Davids Spaks helped highlight another strong weekend of action for the Tennessee Tech tennis team in the James O'Connell Memorial Tournament.
Fresh off a tandem title in the Porters Neck Invitational, Alvarez and Spaks were at it again with wins in all four doubles clashes to capture the Flight A championship. The Golden Eagle duo took home a 6-2 win over Riccardo Baldi and Arnesh Singh in the first round before topping Xavier's Nick Herdoiza and Andrew Spurck with a 6-3 decision in the quarterfinals.
Alvarez and Spaks went on to secure a 6-3 nod over IU Indy's Konner Gunwall and Owen Nguyen in the semifinals before soaring to the title with a 6-4 victory against Xavier's Alex Kotarski and Max Pettingell in the finals.
Alvarez and Spaks' impressive showing moved the Tech tandem to a perfect 8-0 this fall. The lights-out performance was part of an overall stellar weekend for the Golden Eagles that did not go unnoticed by Tech's first-year head coach Mark Klysner.
"We had another great weekend in Cincinnati, not only in getting to compete at such a famous facility on the ATP tour, but the guys showed up big time and played some strong tennis," Klysner claimed. "We won a lot of matches in both singles and doubles and I saw a lot of improvement on both sides, but more importantly we've been working on our mental game and that continues to improve weekly. Huge shoutout to Alex and Davids for capturing the top flight doubles title. That's back-to-back weekends they have now won the top flight title and makes them 8-0 together this fall. We will now look forward to preparing for the ITA Regionals in a couple of weeks and see who we get into that tournament."
As far as the rest of doubles play is concerned, Ricard Garavi Yepez and Elyad Oshnavie carded a pair of wins over the weekend on the way to a 2-2 record. The TTU duo dropped its first-round Flight B affair with a 6-3 defeat to Butler's Nicholas Balthazor and Siddhartha Lama, but bounced back to win two matches in the doubles back draw.
Garavi Yepez and Oshnavie picked up a 6-3 victory over Ball State's Broc Fletcher and Zack Kimelman to go along with another 6-3 nod against Northern Kentucky's Dugan Fowler and Puig. The Golden Eagle duo also dropped a 6-3 decision to Lipscomb's Filippo Verdese and Hartmut Fiedler.
Tech's final doubles pairing saw Oliver Dao and Murilo Burckhardt drop a 6-4 bout to Xavier's Alex Kotarski and Max Pettingell in Flight A action.
Singles play featured victories out of all four Golden Eagles that competed, paced by Garavi Yepez's trio of triumphs. After falling 6-3, 3-6, 1-0 (7) in the first round of Flight C to Furman's Nicolas Dispas, the Tech sophomore out of Spain rallied to take down Northern Kentucky's Hector Salvador Civera, 7-6, 6-3, in the second round of the back draw before winning a third-round clash, 6-3, 6-2, over Lipscomb's Alex Vlahos.
Garavi Yepez rounded out his stay in Cincy with a 6-1, 6-3 victory against Furman's Sam Fancutt.
Murilo Burckhardt picked up a pair of singles wins, showing similar resolve to Garavi Yepez after a Flight A 6-4, 6-1 first-round setback to Ball State's Jacks Lancaster. The Golden Eagle junior out of Telemaco Borba, Brazil then dropped a 6-4, 6-4 decision to Butler's Ronin Kasday, but claimed his final two solo battles. Burckhardt took home a 3-6, 6-2, 1-0 (9) win over Ball State's Andrei Caragea before knocking off IU Indy's Eli Mercer with a 7-5, 6-3 final for his second victory.
Elyad Oshnavie mirrored Burckhardt's success with two singles wins of his own, showcasing his own display of resiliency after first falling 6-4, 4-6, 1-0 (6) to IU Indy's Pumiphat Sukkho in the first round of Flight D. Oshnavie then went on to have back-to-back victories behind a 6-3, 6-2 triumph over Northern Kentucky's Puig and a 6-4, 6-7 (1), 1-0 (7) nod against Furman's Alex Han. The Tech sophomore from Asker, Norway dropped his final get-together with a 6-2, 6-0 defeat to Lipscomb's Hartmut Fiedler.
Oliver Dao had a promising beginning to his singles run thanks to a 6-2, 6-4 win over Ball State's Andrei Caragea in the first round of Flight B, but then fell in the second round after retiring in a matchup with Furman's Theophile Joly.
Tech will now set its sights on the ITA Ohio Valley Regional, hosted by Purdue. The Tournament in West Lafayette, Ind. is scheduled for Oct. 9-14.
