SUMTER, S.C. – The opening day of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association's 2014 Division III Small College Championships is complete, but unfortunately Whitman College's
Jake Hoeger and
Zach Hewlin will not be moving on to Day 2 despite a pair of taut matches in the play-in round Wednesday at the Palmetto Tennis Center.
The Missionaries' doubles tandem squared off with Jordan Mayer and Aaron Skinner of Trinity (Texas) University in the doubles draw with Trinity's pair drawing first blood with a 6-2 opening-set victory. Hoeger and Hewlin battled back in the second set to erase the deficit with a 7-6(5) win, forcing a super-tiebreaker third set. The two teams chipped away at each other until Mayer and Skinner were able to eke out a 1-0 (13-11) win to clinch the match and advance on to Thursday.
Hewlin was coming off a singles play-in match earlier in the day that also went three sets. Adam Krull of Trinity squeezed out a 7-5 win in the first set to scratch out a lead but Hewlin answered with a 6-4 win in the second. It was all Krull in the third, however, as he finished off the win, 6-1, to eliminate Hewlin.
The ITA Small College Championships are an annual event at which the singles and doubles winners -- earning ITA All-American status with their regional titles -- of nine regions gather to crown a national champion. Traditionally the winners of the Northwest Regional and Southwest Regional oppose each other in play-in matches for one spot in the singles and doubles draws on the first day of the four-day event.Hewlin earned his Championships berth by downing teammate Colton Malesovas at the Whitman Tennis Courts in the Northwest Regional singles final on September 28. Later that day Hewlin teamed up with Hoeger to defeat teammates James Rivers and Malesovas to earn the region's doubles crown and spot at the Small College Championships.The winners of the D-III singles and doubles draws at the Tennis Center will advance to the tennis Super Bowl on October 12 when they will play the winners of the D-II, NAIA and NJCAA championship draws.
