Oct. 1, 2014 By Ryan Altman
Even though he had won the singles title at the 2013 Intercollegiate Tennis Association Midwest Regional, for Jake Humphreys losing in the Round of 16 this year wasn’t a complete disappointment.
As the top seed in the men’s singles draw last weekend at the ITAs, hosted by Gustavus Adolphus College, the Warhawks junior cruised through both the Round of 64 and 32 before losing to Gustavus’ Bradley Entwistle, 4-6, 4-6, in Saturday’s quarterfinal match.
“It was tough going in as the No. 1 seed,” Humphreys said. “I just didn’t have it, but I’m not disappointed about how I played.”
Making lengthy tournament runs at the ITAs were senior Ben Shklyar, junior Matt Bisbee, sophomores Martin Beck and Rithwik Raman, and freshman Zane Navratil.
All five singles players reached at least the Round of 32 for the ’Hawks.
Besides Humphreys, Bisbee was the only other ’Hawk to make the Round of 16.
“Everyone did well,” head coach Frank Barnes said. “However, this year, I felt the competition was a bit stiffer.”
In doubles, the ’Hawks shared similar success.
The No. 1-ranked doubles pairing of Humphreys and Shklyar, beat a pair of Gustavus doubles teams in two of three matches en route to a 8-5 semi-finals loss against No. 3 seeds Riley Galbraith and Brady Anderson of Coe College.
At one point, the pair erased a 0-5 deficit to narrow the score to 5-6 before dropping serve and later the match.
“[Humphreys and Shklyar] played very well,” Barnes said of the duo. “They won three matches against really strong teams and battled back in their semi-final match. [Coe] was one of the best teams in the region.”
In the Round of 32, Raman and Bisbee dropped a tight 8-5 match against Gustavus’ No. 8 seeds, Mitch Elofson and Mohanad Al-Houni.
Also, Navratil and senior Cam Laktash lost 8-5 to another Gustavus doubles team in the same round.
Because the ’Hawks left the ITAs without a champion, this marks the end of the fall half of the schedule.
They did not play in any dual meets but had a handful of winners at the ’Hawks Invite in September.
The ’Hawks return to the courts, when they travel to Rockford, Illinois, on Jan. 23, 2015, to take on a pair of Division-I schools-Northern Illinois and University of Illinois-Chicago.
Despite a slow end to the fall, Humphreys said there is still a lot to look forward to when the season resumes.
“I think we have a really good team,” Humphreys said. “It didn’t necessarily show at the ITAs, but this spring we have a competitive schedule and we’ll get some big wins.”
Midwest Open Results
Freshman Matt Zurowski and sophomore Venkatesh Yuvaraj both won two matches and reached the quarterfinals of the singles draw at the Midwest Open, which was played alongside the ITAs.
The two teamed up for doubles as well, but lost in the Round of 32.
No. 1 seeds, freshman Sebastian Lauterbach and sophomore Justin Bowman, reached the Round of 32 but were beaten by Will Weyenberg and Andrew Rust of UW-Eau Claire, 8-5.
