LOS ANGELES, Calif. - UC San Diego's Max Jiganti won two matches Friday to advance to the singles finals of the USTA/Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Regional Championships at Cal State L.A.
Jiganti will take on Yevhen Zakharov of BYU-Hawaii for the West Region singles title on Saturday at noon.
The first match of the day for the sophomore was no cakewalk as he battled for a 6-2, 4-6, 10-8 victory over Grand Canyon's Ahmed Saleem in the quarterfinals. Riding the momentum into the semis, the Gig Harbor, Wash., native took down Grand Canyon's Stephane Murray in straight sets, 6-2 and 7-6, to punch his ticket to the championship match.
Also advancing to Saturday action was the doubles team of Austin West and Devon Sousa. They had a bye in the first round and then defeated Jiganti and Trevor Dell, 8-5, in the quarters. West and Sousa will play Murray and Patrice Giraldi of Grand Canyon Saturday at 2:30 p.m. in a semifinal match-up.
The doubles championship match is slated for a 3:30 p.m. start.
ITA Regional champions from NCAA Division II and III, NAIA and Junior/Community Colleges advance to the National Small College Championships, the only national championship event for singles and doubles at the NCAA Division II level.
The singles and doubles champions at each level will then compete to become the overall "Super Bowl" champions. The "Super Bowl" champions will earn wild cards into the USTA/ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships with the opportunity to win the culminating event held at the USTA-Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on Nov. 3-6 in Flushing, N.Y.
2011 USTA/ITA West Region Championships
Sept. 29, 2011
Los Angeles, Calif.
Singles - Quarterfinals
Stephane Murray (Grand Canyon) def. Austin West (UCSD) 6-3, 6-3
Max Jiganti (UCSD) def. Ahmed Saleem (Grand Canyon) 6-2, 4-6, 10-8
Zevhan Zakharov (BYU-Hawaii) def. Sam Ling (UCSD) 6-7, 7-6, 10-8
Patrice Giraldi (Grand Canyon) def. Andrew Malozsak (UCSD) 6-1, 6-2
Singles - Semifinals
Max Jiganti (UCSD) def. Stephane Murray (Grand Canyon) 6-2, 7-6
Doubles - Quarterfinals
Stephane Murray/Patrice Giraldi (Grand Canyon) def. Jason Wall/Sam Ling (UCSD) 8-3
Austin West/Devon Sousa (UCSD) def. Max Jiganti/Trevor Dell (UCSD) 8-5
- UCSDtritons.com -
