The Denison men's tennis team wrapped up the 2011 fall season last weekend at the ITA Central Regional Championships hosted by Washington University-St. Louis.
In the ITA/USTA Singles Championship draw, senior Tom Cawood and first-year Casey Cempre paced DU. Cawood, seeded 15th in the bracket, reached the semifinals of the main draw after posting a 4-1 record. The senior opened the tournament with a dominating 6-1, 6-1 win over Chicago's Ryan Ho, and followed that up with a 6-2, 6-3 decision over Eric Bruynseels of DePauw. In the third round, Cawood defeated Ohio Northern's Do Thai in straight sets (6-2, 6-2). The senior won a three-set match in the fourth round against Wade Heerboth from Kenyon. Cawood's run came to an end in the quarterfinals after dropping a 6-1, 6-2 decision to DePauw's Sam Miles.
Cempre had a similar run, reaching the fourth round in his first-ever appearance at the ITA Central Regional. The freshman knocked off Washington's Naveen Chadalavada via 6-3, 6-1 scores in the first round, and won in straight-set in the second round over Calvin's Preston Phillips (6-1, 7-5). Cempre reached the fourth round after defeating Chicago's Troy Brinker 6-1, 6-4. In his fourth round match, the rookie drew the Bears' Adam Putterman. After dropping the opening set 7-5, Cempre rebounded to take the second set 6-4. In the final set, the junior Putterman picked up a 6-1 decision over the freshman Cempre to advance to the quarterfinals.
In doubles action, senior Tyler Cempre and Matt McErlean won the backdraw of the USTA/ITA Doubles Championship bracket. After dropping their opening match, the senior duo rattled off five-straight victories. In the championship match of the backdraw, Cempre and McErlean doubled up Chicago's Alexander Golovin and Jan Stefanski, 8-4.
Also having success last weekend were freshman Jeffrey LoDuca and sophomore Jay Fovel, and the doubles team of Andrew Marczak and Cam Williams, who all competed in the St. Louis Collegiate Championship brackets.
LoDuca opened the draw with a 6-1, 6-0 win over the Ozarks Michael Skimbo. The rookie followed that up with a 6-3, 7-5 decision over Kevin Dayles from Augustana. LoDuca punched his ticket to the quarterfinals with a three-set win (6-4, 2-6, 10-8) over Baldwin-Wallace's Kyle Patterson. In the quarterfinals, the Big Red freshman suffered a three-set loss (6-4, 3-6, 10-8) to Bas Van Lent of Case Western Reserve.
Fovel reached the finals of the St. Louis bracket backdraw after rattling off four-straight wins, including a victory over teammate Tim Martin in the semifinals (6-4, 5-7, 10-8). Fovel dropped a 7-5, 6-2 decision to ONU's Nick Kowalczyk in the finals of the backdraw.
After losing their opening match, Marczak and Williams rattled off four-straight wins en route to winning the backdraw of the St. Louis Collegiate Doubles bracket. The Big Red tandem reached the finals of the draw after posting victories over teams from North Central, Augustana and Calvin. In the championship match, Marczak and Williams posted an impressive 8-3 win over the team of Belden and Wollmershauser from Westminster.
