rewrite this content and keep HTML tags
ITA Cup Event Page | ITA Cup Draws & Results | ITA Cup Photo Gallery
Rome, GA – Tabbed as the most prestigious fall championship within the Division II, Division III, NAIA, and Junior College levels of play, the ITA Cup once again brought together the nation’s top small college players for an action packed weekend of high-level tennis.
Hosted at the Rome Tennis Center, hundreds of athletes flooded to Georgia with many former champions and year-end No. 1 ranked players and doubles teams featured prominently in each draw.
On Sunday, the finals were played across each division and gender. With rain in the area, matches were played indoors in Rome with singles play hitting the court first before doubles followed later in the afternoon to close out the tournament.
In singles, at the NAIA level, both Santiago Villarruel (Georgia Gwinnett) and Violet Apisah (Keiser) repeated as singles champions. This title marked the third in Apisah’s career which ties her for the most singles titles won by a single player at the ITA Cup, regardless of division.
At the Division II level, the South Region had a great showing as Barry (men’s singles), West Florida (men’s doubles), and Nova Southeastern (women’s doubles) all took home national championships. In women’s singles, Natasha Sengphrachanh (Grand Valley State) upset the No. 1 seeded player from Barry and became the first player in program history to claim the title.
It was Emory who outperformed the rest at the Division III men’s level as Ruilin Feng bested the No. 1 seed to win the men’s singles title while Matthew Johnson and Ajay Kartik claimed the men’s doubles title. On the women’s side, Matia Cristiani became the first Babson player to claim the singles title, while past singles champion Lindsay Eisenman (CMS) paired with Rebecca Kong to win the doubles title.
As two of the most prominent Junior College programs in recent years, it was Tyler Junior College sweeping the men’s titles in Rome and Hillsborough Community College sweeping the women’s titles.
Continue reading below to see the National Champions from each division and gender below:
Division II National Champions
Men’s Singles: Yan Kodjoed, Barry UniversityWomen’s Singles: Natasha Sengphrachanh, Grand Valley State UniversityMen’s Doubles: Diego Duran & Sebastian Rondon, University of West FloridaWomen’s Doubles: Kristyna Hranacova & Katja Markus, Nova Southeastern University
Division III National Champions
Men’s Singles: Ruilin Feng, Emory UniversityWomen’s Singles: Matia Cristiani, Babson CollegeMen’s Doubles: Matthew Johnstone & Ajay Kartik, Emory UniversityWomen’s Doubles: Lindsay Eisenman & Rebecca Kong, CMS
NAIA National Champions
Men’s Singles: Santiago Villarruel, Georgia Gwinnett CollegeWomen’s Singles: Violet Apisah, Keiser UniversityMen’s Doubles: Luis Francisco Sampedro & Santiago Villarruel, Georgia Gwinnett CollegeWomen’s Doubles: Adrianna Kluska & Shalimar Talbi, SCAD – Atlanta
JUCO National Champions
Men’s Singles: Daniel Marincas, Tyler Junior CollegeWomen’s Singles: Younsoo Cho, Hillsborough CollegeMen’s Doubles: Ties De Regt & Daniel Marincas, Tyler Junior CollegeWomen’s Doubles: Younsoo Cho & Noah Rojas Hernandez, Hillsborough College
