UMSL Has Strong Showing at ITA Regionals

The UMSL men's tennis team had a big weekend at the ITA Regional Tournament this past weekend in Indianapolis, Ind., getting a doubles team that advanced to the semifinals and Francis Lam advanced to the quarterfinals in the singles tournament.

In singles competition, senior Francis Lam was seeded 11th and advanced to the final eight in the tournament field of 64 players. Lam cruised through two easy wins to start, defeating Jitrat Jaidee of Findlay 6-0, 6-2 in the opening round and then beat Nathan Moore of Southern Indiana 6-2, 6-1 in the second round. Lam then faced sixth-seeded Jan Stastny of Indianapolis, an all-conference selection last year, and Lam won in three sets, 6-4, 2-6, 10-4 to advance to the quarterfinals. His run in the tournament ended there with a two-set loss to Federico Levi of Drury.

Freshman Andreas Dimke had an impressive showing for UMSL as well. Seeded eighth in the tournament, Dimke won a tough opening match 7-6, 6-1 over Brian Karazia of Ferris State in the opening round. He then beat Steve Beatty of Northwood 6-2, 6-1 in the second round before losing in the round of 16 to ninth-seeded Akshay Chellappa of Ferris State in three sets. Boris Simic was the third UMSL singles player in the tournament, and he was beaten in a close match by sixth-seeded Jan Stastny of Indianapolis in the opening round by scores of 7-6 (4), 7-6 (2).

In doubles competition, the team of Francis Lam and Boris Simic was seeded eighth in the field of 25 and advanced to the semifinals before being eliminated. Lam and Simic cruised in their opening match, winning 8-0 over a team from Lake Superior State. The UMSL pair then beat a team from Findlay 8-4 in the second round and then advanced to the final four with an 8-4 win over the third seeded team in the field from Mercyhurst. It took the number two seed to final beat Lam and Simic in the semifinals by an 8-2 score.