Men’s Tennis Shines at Southwest Regionals

MALIBU, Calif. – Arizona put on a stellar performance at the ITA Southwest Regionals in both singles and doubles with two doubles pairs and four singles players reaching the quarterfinals in each competition. No. 86 Colton Smith [13] took down No. 1 Stefan Dostanic [1] in three sets 6-1, 6-7(5), 6-2 during the round of 16, and No. 77 Herman Hoeyeraal [12] reached the semifinals defeating all of his opponents in straight sets along the way. 

Hoeyeraal was knocked out of the semis by No. 41 Peter Makk [5] in straight sets and in the quarterfinals Smith fell short to No. 45 Tim Zeitvogel [7]. He was one of three Cats to reach the fifth round alongside No. 46 Gustaf Strom [8] and Nick Lagaev [17] who were also taken out by ranked opponents. No. 23 Alexander Hoogmartens [3] defeated Strom in straight sets and Lagaev won his first set against Makk before falling in three. 

In the doubles quarterfinals, both pairs fell in close matches against San Diego teams. Hoeyeraal and Strom [6] were defeated by UCSB’s Kai Brady and Philip Jordan [3] in a tiebreaker while Smith and Lagaev [11] fell short to USD’s Iiro Vasa and Sacchitt Sharma [9]. 

Freshmen Jay Friend and Dominique Rolland each made their first appearance at the regionals tournament which saw the pair lose the first round in doubles play. Friend received a first round bye and won his first match against Andy Hernandez (Hawaii) in straight sets to advance to the  round of 32 before falling to Zeitvogel. Rolland lost to Toky Nicolas Ranaivo (LMU) in three sets during the initial round of 128.

Next up for Men’s Tennis are the ITF Futures hosted Oct. 24-30 in Norman, Okla. 

Main Draw Results 

Doubles

R64:

• Lan/Rodriguez (UCSD) def. Rolland/Friend 8-4

R32:

• Hoeyeraal/Strom [6] def. Ranaivo/Torlic (LMU) 8-5
• Smith/Lagaev [11] def. Ilagan/Collins (Hawaii) 8-3

R16:

• Hoeyeraal/Strom [6] def. Niedner/Tarvet (USD) 8-3
• Smith/Lagaev [11] def. DeSousa/Boullenger (UCSB) 8-4

QF:

• Brady/Jordan [3] (UCSB) def. Hoeyeraal/Strom [6] 8-7(4)
• Sharma/Vasa [9] (USD) def. Smith/Lagaev [11] 8-6

Singles

R128

• Ranaivo (LMU) def. Rolland 0-6, 6-4, 7-6(5) 

R64:

• No. 86 Smith [13] def. Maitre (Hawaii) 6-4, 6-3
• Friend [21] def. Hernandez (Hawaii) 6-3, 6-3
• No. 46 Strom [8] def. Fradkin (UCLA) 6-2, 7-5
• No. 77 Hoeyeraal [12] def. Smiej (LMU) 6-3,…