MEDFORD, MA (September 29, 2024) -- A busy weekend finished with a bang for the Tufts University men's tennis team, as the Jumbos saw senior
Vuk Vuksanovic earn the 2024 Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) New England Regional singles crown Sunday. That wasn't all for the Jumbos, as junior
Javier Gonzalez and first-year
Stavros Mastrogamvrakis captured the 2024 doubles title.
With the win, Vuksanovic qualified for the 2023 ITA Cup October 10-13, while the Tufts doubles' pair will also head to Berry College in Mount Berry, Ga. at the Rome Tennis Center. In addition to Gonzalez and Mastrogamvrakis, junior
Alex Ganchev and
Sacha Maes will also head to the ITA Cup thanks to their runner-up finish in doubles this weekend.
The doubles' win for the Jumbos marked their third straight season making the ITA Cup in doubles, as Maes and
Aarush Ganji went in 2023 while Vuksanovic and
Derin Acaroglu were national runners-up in 2022. Vuksanovic became Tufts first ITA Regional champion since Boris Sorkin earned the win back in 2019.
Vuksanovic started Sunday's play with a tough battle against Jake Cohen of Colby College in the semifinals, but he was able to secure a straight set win with scores of 6-0, 6-3. Vuksanovic was able to rest up as Middlebury's Neel Epstein and Kailas Kahler of MIT played to a three-set marathon in the other semifinal. Epstein would advance, but Vuksanovic rolled in the final 6-1, 6-1 to claim the crown.
In doubles, Gonzalez and Mastrogamvrakis played teammates Lachie MacIntosh and
Nico Tremblay in the semifinals, with the former duo advancing 8-3 into the finals. On the other side, Wesleyan's Max Litton and Max Lustgarten played Ganchev and Maes for a spot in the final. The Jumbos duo pulled away late in the match, claiming an 8-4 win to set up a Tufts-Tufts final.
The final would not happen though, as the duo of Ganchev and Maes would retire giving Gonzalez and Mastrogamvrakis the win by default.
In the "B" singles draw,
Andrej Djokic defeated Brett Keeling of Wesleyan in the semifinals but fell to Eddie Wang 6-2, 0-6, 10-5 in the final.
By advancing to the ITA Cup, all of Tufts' competitors earn All-American status for the 2024-25 season.
The draws for the upcoming ITA Cup will be released in the coming weeks.
--JUMBOS--
