Northwestern men’s tennis wins ITA Regionals Final

Northwestern didn’t drop a match while hosting the four-team Intercollegiate Tennis Association Regionals playoffs the weekend and will be heading to Nationals in February.

Northwestern hosted the ITA Kick-off Weekend for the first time, having received hosting rights by finishing in the Top 15 last season. The hosts made quick work of their opponents, taking two 4-0 victories, one over Memphis on Saturday and one over Georgia Tech on Sunday.

Northwestern won both its doubles fixtures over the weekend behind the formidable No. 1 pairing of Sam Shropshire and Konrad Zieba. On Sunday, Georgia Tech was able to snag a win in the No. 3 doubles, but that would be the only match Northwestern lost all weekend. Strong Kirchheimer and Dominik Stary took a 6-4 win over Carlos Benito and Carlos Divar, giving Northwestern the doubles point.

Northwestern’s singles players were even better. Against Memphis in the first round, Northwestern only dropped one set as a team and cruised home to an easy win. In the final against Georgia Tech, No. 1 Strong Kirchheimer impressively defeated Christopher Eubanks 8-6 in a tiebreak. This was a rather surprising loss for Eubanks, who entered the weekend ranked No. 9 in the ITA Rankings compared to Kirchheimer at No. 26. The marquee matchup ended early, however, as Shropshire, Zieba and Stary all obliterated their opponents in straight sets to confirm a Northwestern victory.

Northwestern’s comfortable and efficient victories bode well for their performances at the ITA Nationals event at the University of Virginia campus in February. The Wildcats entered the weekend ranked No. 10 in the nation and did nothing to lead anyone to question that spot.

The Wildcats host Boise State, Harvard and Duke this coming weekend at the Combe Tennis Center.