The UW-Superior men’s and women’s took part in the ITA Midwest Regional Tournament on Sept. 30, at Gustavus Adolphus College.
The Yellowjackets competed in both the singles and doubles events of the ITA division, as well as playing in the ‘B’ Division singles matches.
Jacob Zacharias is the men’s team captain, as well as being the only upperclassmen across both the men’s and women’s team.
Zacharias lost to Andrew LaBelle in straight sets in the singles event; this did not deter
him as he paired with freshman Yash Chhabra in doubles to beat UW-Eau Claire’s Colin Chapman and Ethan Wurtze to advance to the next round.
The second round was the end of the pair’s tournament run, as they fell to tournament hosts Gustavus, losing 8-1. “The team now is really young, there’s lots of different cultures as the team has many internationals. It’s cool to learn about each other’s cultures.
ITA’s was a fun experience to see the highest level across the Midwest, playing against the best teams and the best competition, that’s the level we’re striving for,” said Zacharias.
As for the women’s team, freshmen Claudia Curtis and Maya Haupt competed against Wartburg College. The Knights came out on top against the pair, defeating UWS 8-2 in the first round.
Andreina Tejada and Giulia Araujo De Barros defeated Maddy Coopmans and Jewel Lindwall from Edgewood in the first round, however the Edgewood pair came back in the second round to defeat the ‘Jackets, rounding out the ITA’s for the women’s team.
“The fall season was great. We had two tournaments in the fall, ITA’s and the Gustavus tournament. Both went really well, with good competition there. Our team is young, so we don’t have a ton of experience, but we’re pretty strong and I’m confident for the spring season. The team gets along super well. We challenge each other in practice and we still have fun with it.
The spring season will be very exciting and I can’t wait for it to start,” said Kate Jonas, freshmen on the UWS women’s team. The tennis team has become a melting pot of cultures due to the vast amount of international students competing this year, from all corners of the world.
Brazilian freshman Lucca Paladini is positive ahead of the upcoming season. “I think the tennis team is going to do really well this year. We’ve got a lot of freshmen, and they’re playing very well. The top six lineup is really strong, and everyone is of a similar level. The ITA’s were really good. It’s an individual championship, but everyone played well. We got some good games, some good wins. Our first match against Carlton was really good, everyone played well in doubles and singles. I think we’re going to do well this season. We can probably win our conference, and we’ll try to win some matches in the national championships,” said Paladini.
The Yellowjackets look to take what they learned from the ITA Midwest Regional Tournament into their 2024 spring season.
