Tennis wraps up week at ITA All-American Championships

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CW / Hannah Saad

The Alabama men’s and women’s tennis teams participated in the ITA All-American Championships last week in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

The Alabama women’s players were eliminated in the pre-qualifying round, while the men’s players didn’t last past the second round in both singles and doubles.

The Crimson Tide started off the tournament with two women’s singles matches on Oct. 5. Senior Alba Cortina Pou and junior Moka Ito each played a match in the pre-qualifying draw.

In the first round, Ito dropped her match in straight sets, 6-4, 6-1. Cortina Pou was able to keep the match close, but ultimately fell 4-6, 6-4, 6-4.

Cortina Pou and Ito’s consolation matches were both cancelled due to poor weather conditions.

For the men’s team, junior Patrick Kaukovalta began play on Monday with a qualifying round win over Princeton’s Karl Poling, ranked No. 73. Kaukovalta defeated Poling in straight sets, 7-5, 6-2. The win gave the Finland native his third career win over a ranked opponent.

In his next game, however, Kaukovalta fell in three sets. He dropped the first set, 6-4, but rebounded to take the second set, 6-3. He lost the third set 6-1 to be eliminated from the tournament.

Senior Edson Ortiz, ranked No. 42, hoped to have a better performance than Kaukovalta, and started off his tournament strong with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over No. 47 Jake Van Emburgh of Oklahoma. The win marked Ortiz’s highest-ranked singles win of his career.

Last season, Ortiz won two matches in the qualifying tournament before falling in the final.

However, like his teammates, Ortiz’s tournament was cut short on Thursday when he fell to No. 3 Oliver Crawford of Florida, 6-0, 6-1, in the second round.

In the main doubles draw, the No. 29 duo of Ortiz/Kaukovalta dropped their first-round match against John McNally/Robert Cash of Ohio State 6-4, 6-4. Ortiz/Kaukovalta went on to fall in their consolation match to No. 49 Sam Riffice/Crawford of Florida 6-3, 3-6, 1-0 (10-4). The final loss ended the Crimson Tide’s appearances in Tulsa.

Up next for Alabama women’s tennis will be the ITA Regional Championships, which will take place in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on Oct. 17-22. The men’s team’s next competition will also be the ITA Regional Championships on the same dates, but will take place in Auburn, Alabama.