Eala, Morgan, Sato, Sengul, and Bhatnagar Advance to ITA Super Atlantic Regionals Play Next Weekend

Box Score

ANNAPOLIS, Md.–Penn State Men’s Tennis continued their dominance in the singles competition on the last day of competition at the ITA Regionals on Saturday. Four of the eight players moving on to the quarterfinals, and subsequently the ITA Super Atlantic Regionals in Norfolk, Virginia next weekend, are Nittany Lions. Penn State was unable to advance to doubles play at the ITA Super Atlantic Regionals.

Singles

On the final day of ITA Regionals play, Miko Eala defeated the University of Delaware’s James Wilkinson in two sets, 6-3, 6-2.  

Facing off against Rayane Stable of VCU, Bora Sengul won his first game 6-4. He overcame a 0-6 second set to take the match in three.  

Charl Morgan defeated Saint Joseph University’s Nathan Perrone, 7-5, 3-6, 6-1.  

The round of 16 pitted two Nittany Lions against each other. Chikaya Sato took on Malik Bhatnagar, winning the first match 7-5. Bhatnagar retired from the competition, allowing Sato to claim the quarterfinal spot.  

Eala, Sengul, Morgan, Sato, and Bhatnagar will continue play at the ITA Super Atlantic Regionals on October 23 at Old Dominion University. 

“Pretty pleased with our results this weekend, the competition was stronger than expected and we fared very well in singles,” said Associate Head Coach Paul Tobin. “I’m very proud of Chikaya, Bora, Malik, Miko, and Charl for heading to the Super Regional’s, they have been working hard this fall and it’s paying off.”

Doubles

Taking on VCU’s Inigo Torre Martin and Rayane Stable, Byers and Bossem were defeated with a final score of 8-2. 

Bhatnagar and Sengul fell to Marin Delmas and Louis Gorregues of Temple, 8-3. 

While the duo of Eala and Morgan advanced to the quarterfinals by defeating Navy’s Jake Fishkin and Jack Dabek, they were ultimately knocked out of doubles play by the duo from VCU, Joaquim Almeida and Matisse Bobichon, 8-6.

“All of our hard work in practice has started to pay off, we had a big change, a big uptick in play from our first tournament to this one,” said Head Coach Jeff Zinn. “It’s nice that the coaching staff sees it, but also the players are able to realize how much better they played.”