Miller Reaches ITA Singles and Doubles Championships

(FREDERICKSBURG, Va.) – Junior men's tennis player Duke Miller (Poway, Calif.) reached both the singles and doubles finals of the ITA Southeast Regional Championships on Monday, October 4, but fell just short of either title. He became the first singles player to reach the final since James Muliawan won the event in 2008.

Miller was trying to repeat as the ITA Southeast Regional Doubles Champion, as he won the event last season with graduate Bobby MacTaggart. Miller's road to the doubles championship this year was with freshman Will Duncan (Newbury Park, Calif.). The pair was seeded second in the tournament and defeated Andy Dougherty and Matt Romei of Haverford College 8-3 in the round of 32. The pair advanced with victories over Will MacArthur and Ross Silverberg of Franklin and Marshall 9-7 and Andy Hersh and Jeff Kamei of Johns Hopkins University 8-5. The semifinals pitted Miller and Duncan against Warren Elgort and Erik Lim of Johns Hopkins, a match they won with a tiebreaker 9-8 (7-5). Matt King and Eric Shulman of Christopher Newport University took out the Tartans with a 6-3, 6-2 win in the final.

Also playing and winning a match in the championship doubles bracket were senior Forrest Grinstead (Swarthmore, Pa./Strath Haven) and junior Jooho Yu (Northbrook, Ill./Glenbrook North) and freshman Thomas Cooper (Albuquerque, N.M./Albuquerque Academy) and junior Harsha Rao (Severn, Md./Old Mill). Grinstead and Yu defeated Peter Hawkins and Evan Stack of Bridgewater College 8-1 while Cooper and Rao topped Robbie Wagner and Garrett Widing of Christopher Newport 8-5. In the B1 Doulbles draw, freshman Vinit Palayekar (East Windsor, N.J./Hightstown) and sophomore Julian Pearlman (Pittsburgh, Pa./Mt. Lebanon) won 8-5 over Christian Carcione and Seth Udelson of Swarthmore University before falling in the quarterfinals.

Miller was seeded fifth in singles and rallied from a set down to win his first match 5-7, 6-3, 6-4 over Garrett Widing of Christopher Newport. He went on to defeat Jordan Rutt of Muhlenberg University 6-1, 6-1 and Evan Charles of University of Mary Washington 7-6 (7-1), 6-0 to reach the quarterfinals. Once again Miller came from behind to win a three-set match, this time against Warren Elgort of Johns Hopkins 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(7-2). In the semifinals, Miller topped Elgort's teammate Ben Hwang 6-2, 7-5 before finally being topped by a Blue Jay in the final. Andy Hersh won the first set 6-4 before Miller took the second by the same score. Hersh then came from behind in the third set to win 7-5 for the championship and the right to play for the ITA National Championship.

Also winning in championship singles action was senior Jeremy King (East Meadow, N.Y./Chaminade), a 7-5, 6-7(8-10), 6-3 winner over Natty Sergay of Haverord. Rao, Pearlman and Duncan also won one match in singles play. Rao won 6-3, 6-2 over Matt Romei of Haverford, Pearlman took down Matt King of Christopher Newport 2-6, 6-1, 7-5 and Duncan defeated Riley Baver of Mary Washington 6-2, 6-3.

In the B1 Singles bracket, Grinstead defeated Kyle Lisco of Washington College 6-0, 6-4 while Palayekar won twice, defeating Kazuhiro Tomioko of Franklin and Marshall 6-2, 6-1 and Kaleb Nguyen of Mary Washington 6-2, 6-2.

The Tartans will have their first match as a team on Saturday, October 8, against Robert Morris University at 12:30 p.m. Later that same day the team will take on Duquesne University at 4:00 p.m.