Tulsa Men’s Tennis Sends Two Pairs to Round of 16 at ITA Regionals Before Picking Up Four Singles Wins

STILLWATER, Okla. – The University of Tulsa Men's Tennis team began play at the ITA Central Region Championship on Thursday morning and afternoon, racking up three doubles wins early in the day to send two pairs to the round of 16 before grabbing four wins in seven singles matches.

Tulsa began the day with round of 64 doubles play in the morning as three duos took the court for their opening matches. Mitchell Pritchard and Chase Gordon came out on top against South Dakota State's Emerson Styles and Jonny Higham, 8-3, but fell in the round of 32 to Iowa's Josh Silverstein and Kareen Allaf 8-5.

Jarod Hing and Daniel Santos advanced to the round of 32 with an 8-4 win over UMKC's duo of Daniel Izadifar and Vinh Pham, rallying from down 4-1 to take the match. The pair continued their run in their next match against Jan Pehnec and Michael Sosnowski of Oral Roberts, winning 8-5 on their way to advancing to the round of 16.

Majed Kilani and Dominic Bechard could not round out the morning a perfect three-for-three in doubles round of 64 play as they fell to David Farragut and Juan Valero of Saint Louis 8-3.

Okkie Kellerman and Francois Kellerman defeated Wichita State's Eddie Stocia and Vitor Mendes 8-3 in the round of 32 to advance to the round of 16 after securing a first round bye.

In Tulsa's first session of singles play, Francois Kellerman defeated UMKC's Izadifar in the round of 128, 7-5, 6-3. Santos joined Kellerman in the round of 64 with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Emerson Styles of SDSU. Kellerman will take on Southern Illinois' Piotr Baranski of Southern Illinois tomorrow while Santos will face Oscar Pachon of Saint Louis with both matches beginning at 9 a.m.

Okkie Kellerman followed with the third singles win of the afternoon, rallying after dropping his first set to take down Nebraska's Tomislav Antoljak 2-6, 6-2, 7-5. Chase Gordon earned a win of his own in straight sets, downing Nebraska-Omaha's Alex Woodword 6-3, 7-5. Kellerman's round of 64 match is slated for 10 a.m. tomorrow morning against Minnesota's Felix Corwin while Gordon will face Oklahoma's Spencer Papa at 9 a.m.

Hing took on Alex Pozo of Southern Illinois in his opening singles match, but fell in straight sets 6-2, 7-6. Pritchard won his first set 7-6 against Iowa's Robin Haden, but could not hold on as he dropped the next two 6-1, 6-2. Bechard took on Minnesota's Justyn Levin in the round of 128, dropping the match in straight sets 6-3, 6-4.

Kilani, who secured a first-round bye, will play his first singles match of the weekend tomorrow against Chris Dean of Nebraska at 9 a.m.

Play at the ITA Regionals will continue tomorrow and through the weekend, wrapping up on Sunday, Oct. 24. Live video streaming of the tournament can be found here.

Brackets
Singles (1 of 2)
Singles (2 of 2)
Doubles

Tulsa Men’s Tennis Sends Two Pairs to Round of 16 at ITA Regionals Before Picking Up Four Singles Wins

Players Mentioned

Dominic Bechard

Chase Gordon

Jarod Hing

Francois Kellerman

Okkie Kellerman

Majed Kilani

Mitchell Pritchard

Daniel Santos

Related Videos