ROME, GA (October 12, 2023) -- Sophomores
Sacha Maes and
Aarush Ganji started action at the 2023 Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Cup Thursday, winning a thrilling opening round matchup in the doubles draw in play from Rome Tennis Center.
The Tufts duo squared off against a pair of Matthew Michibata and Harrison Maitland-Carter from The College of New Jersey, the champions of the ITA Northeast Regional. Ganji and Maes earned the early lead in the match, taking a 6-3 first-set victory. The Lions' duo of Maitland-Carter and Michibata battled back with a 6-4 edge in the second set to set up a 10-point tiebreak. In the breaker, Ganji and Maes were about to outlast the TCNJ duo 11-9 to move into the quarterfinals on Friday.
Maes and Ganji will now battle No. 4 seed Quinn Wickland and Jordan Theron of Sewanee: University of the South on Friday at 7:00 p.m. at the Rome Tennis Center. The winner of that contest will play Saturday in the semifinals at 2:30 p.m.
The top part of the bracket saw the top-seeded duo from Case Western Reserve University fall, while both matches on the bracket's top portion went to a 10-point tiebreaker. In all five of the eight matches in the opening round needed a breaker, as No. 2 seed Nolan Shah and Dean Kamenev of Emory University survived on the bottom half.
No. 3 seed Eshaan Lumba and Matthew Feng of Pomona Pitzer Colleges advanced in straight sets, and will take on Gage Gohl and Tyler Haddorff of Gustavus Adolphus College.
For more information, log onto the following link for more information:
https://wearecollegetennis.com/championships/ita-cup/
--JUMBOS--
