SAN DIEGO, Calif.--University of Hawai'i men's tennis player Andre Ilagan, who is seeded No. 7 at this week's ITA National Fall Championships, cruised to a straight set victory to advance to the Round of 16  on Thursday at the Barnes Tennis Center in San Diego, Calif.

At 11:30 a.m. PT on Thursday, Ilagan prepared to play Columbus State's Alvaro Regalado. Regalado is a senior at CSU, which is a Division II college in Columbus, Georgia. Regalado made the ITA Division II All-American Team in 2020 and ITA Division II All-Star Team in 2019.

During the match, Ilagan managed to win the first set by holding off Regalado by a break, 6-4. From there, Ilagan punched his ticket into the Round of 16 by easily handling Regalado, 6-1 for the straight-set win.

Ilagan will now face Denver's James Davis tomorrow, Friday Nov. 5 at 9:00 a.m. PT. Davis earned a spot in the Round of 16 after his opponent retired due to injury in the second set.

Ilagan is the first Rainbow Warrior to ever be invited to play in the ITA National Fall Championships, which is the grand finale to the fall collegiate tennis season. Only 32 of the nation's top collegiate men's singles players and 32 of the nation's top collegiate men's doubles teams received invitations. The event is in its fifth year, having replaced the ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships beginning in 2017.

Ilagan received the prestigious invitation after advancing all the way to the semifinals of October's ITA All-American Championships in Tulsa, Okla. During his string of history-making wins at the All-American, Ilagan mowed down a total of six ranked players—No. 18 Juan Carlos Aguilar (TCU), No. 26 Marcus McDaniel (Georgia Tech), No. 59 Josh Goodger (Florida), No. 65 Connor Kingsley (Ohio State), No. 109 Stijn Slump (Middle Tennessee), and No. 110 Alex Kotzen (Columbia).


2021 ITA National Fall Championships
Barnes Tennis Center - San Diego, Calif.
Thursday, Nov. 4 - RESULTS

Round of 32 Singles - Thursday, Nov. 4, 2021
Andre Ilagan (UH) def. Alvaro Regalado (CSU), 6-4, 6-1

Round of 16 Singles - Friday, Nov. 5, 2021
Andre Ilagan (UH) vs. James Davis (UD)
 

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