Bruins Claim Three Doubles, Six Singles Victories in First Round at ITA Regional Championships

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Beginning play at the 2022 Intercollegiate Tennis Association Ohio Valley Regional Championships in Louisville, Kentucky, the Belmont University men's tennis team tallied nine total match wins Thursday. The Bruins claimed a trio of first-round doubles victories before taking six singles matches in the opening round of the 128-man singles bracket.
 
The doubles pairs of Marko Ilic and Tomas Luis, Ian Cruz and Riccardo Trione, and Alfred Wallin and Jack Randall all advance to Friday's round of 32 following their triumphs Thursday. In singles action, graduate student Ilic, sophomore Cruz and juniors Wallin, Trione, von Hellens and Luis won their first round matches to advance to Friday's second and third rounds.
 
Ilic and Luis defeated East Tennessee State's Pedro Cressoni and James Sim 8-3, while the tandem of Cruz and Trione topped Butler's Aidan William and Michael Karr 8-2. The duo of Wallin and Randall won by an identical 8-2 score against the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga's Jordan McClure and Simon Labbe.
 
Luis had the most dominant score in singles play as he gave up just one game (6-0, 6-1) to Eastern Kentucky's Julappagari Anurag Reddy. Cruz was also impressive, cruising to a 6-2, 6-0 win over Ball State's Eli Herran while Ilic took care of the Bulldogs' Karr 6-1, 6-4. Wallin also won his first round match in straight sets, defeating William of Butler 7-6, 7-4 in the tiebreaker, 6-0.
 
Both Trione and von Hellens came back from first set losses with Trione recovering from a 6-3 opening set versus Will Mayew of host University of Louisville. Following the first set, Trione won consecutive 6-3 sets to advance to the round of 64. After dropping the opening set, 6-1, to the Mocs' Kerim Hyatt, von Hellens gutted out a 7-4 second set tiebreak before clinching the match 6-3 in the third.
 
In Friday morning's second round of doubles at 8:30 a.m. CT/9:30 a.m. ET, Ilic and Luis will take on the Cardinals' David Mizrahi and Mayew. Cruz and Trione will face Louisville's Matthew Fung and Sergio Hernandez and Wallin and Randall will go up against Kentucky's Alexandre LeBlanc and JJ Mercer.
 
Following doubles play Friday, Ilic will see Bellarmine's Jack Batchelor in the second round of singles at 9:30 am. CT/10:30 a.m. ET. Also starting his round of 64 match at 9:30 a.m. CT/10:30 a.m. ET will be Wallin versus the Knights' Kyle Tang. Cruz will see the Cardinals' Mizrahi at 10:45 a.m. CT/11:45 a.m. ET, while Trione takes on Southern Indiana's Alfrendo Vogelaar at 12 p.m. CT/1 p.m. ET. Both von Hellens and Luis will begin their second round singles matches at 1:15 p.m. CT/2:15 p.m. ET as von Hellens meets the Wildcats' Charlelie Cosnet and Luis faces Butler's Thomas Brennan.
 
In the consolation bracket Friday, senior Randall will go up against Lipscomb's Luka Stojanovic and sophomore Sardo will take on Tennessee Tech's Jaime Paquet. Both matches will get underway at 10:30 a.m. CT/11:30 a.m. ET and be played at Bellarmine's Eddie Weber Tennis Complex.
 
Third round main draw singles matches will also be played Friday afternoon at the Bass-Rudd Tennis Center on Louisville's campus, along with the back draw's second round at Bellarmine.
 
Matches played on Louisville's indoor courts will be streamed live here.
 
2022 ITA Ohio Valley Regional Championships – Thursday's Results

Doubles
R64 – Carlos Vicente/Pol Masafret (Tennessee Tech) def. Niklas von Hellens/Gabriel Sardo (Belmont) 8-6
R64 – Marko Ilic/Tomas Luis (Belmont) def. Pedro Cressoni/James Sim (ETSU) 8-3
R64 – Ian Cruz/Riccardo Trione (Belmont) def. Aidan William/Michael Karr (Butler) 8-2
R64 – Alfred Wallin/Jack Randall (Belmont) def. Jordan McClure/Simon Labbe (Chattanooga) 8-2
 
Singles
R128 – Marko Ilic (Belmont) def. Michael Karr (Butler) 6-1, 6-4
R128 – Gabriel Castillo-Sanchez (Chattanooga) def. Jack Randall (Belmont) 7-6 (3), 6-3
R128 – Alfred Wallin (Belmont) def. Aidan William (Butler) 7-6 (4), 6-0
R128 – Michael Ross (Vanderbilt) def. Gabriel Sardo (Belmont) 6-1, 6-4
R128 – Ian Cruz (Belmont) def. Eli Herran (Ball State) 6-2, 6-0
R128 – Riccardo Trione (Belmont) def. Will Mayew (Louisville) 3-6, 6-3, 6-3
R128 – Niklas von Hellens (Belmont) def. Kerim Hyatt (Chattanooga) 1-6, 7-6 (4), 6-3
R128 – Tomas Luis (Belmont) def. Julappagari Anurag Reddy (EKU) 6-0, 6-1
 
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