TULSA, Okla. – Four members of the University of Hawai`i men's tennis team opened the fall season in the pre-qualifying rounds of the D'Novo/ITA All-American Championships, Oct. 3-4 at Michael D. Case Tennis Center. Three of the four Rainbow Warriors fell in their opening match, while Leo Rosenberg won a pair of matches and advanced to Monday's qualifying round. 

 

Rosenberg, seeded No. 2 in the pre-qualifying rounds, received a first-round bye before defeating Chris Price of TCU 3-6, 6-3, 10-5 in Saturday action. Rosenberg then played a pair of matches on Sunday. He defeated Tommy McGeorge of Iowa 3-6, 6-1, 1-0 (10-7) to advance to the fourth and final round of pre-qualifying play. The sophomore's road seemed to end there after he was defeated by Tucker Vorster of Mississippi 6-3, 6-2. However, Rosenberg was a "lucky loser," filling a spot in the 128-player field qualifiers which begin Monday.

 

Meanwhile, three other Rainbow Warriors fell in the second round on Saturday, after each earning first-round byes. Junior Jeremy Tweedt, seeded No. 26 in the prequalifying draw, was defeated by Artem Baradach of SMU 7-5, 6-2.  Sophomore Philipp Eberhard was in it until the very end before falling to Martin Ayala of Texas San Antonio 6-3, 3-6, 1-0 (11-9). Freshman Dmytro Kovalyov was put away in two sets by Javier Tori of USC Upstate 6-2 6-2.

 

UH still has a pair of standout players remaining in the tournament. Senior Andreas Weber will begin play in the qualifying draw on Monday. With his No. 43 ITA preseason ranking, UH junior Dennis Lajola, is automatically entered into the main draw, which begins on Thursday. All six members fo the team will play in the doubles competition, beginning Tuesday.