Blazers Dominate at Wilson/ITA Regionals

Pakebusch beats Dueren for championship

LAKELAND, Fla. - After the Lady Blazers made a strong showing last weekend, the Blazer tennis team looked even stronger at the Wilson/ITA Regional Championships hosted by Florida Southern this weekend.

The only Blazer to be knocked out in the singles round of 64 was Michael Kuech. Keuch, however, went on to the semifinals of the consolation round before losing a marathon to Nicolas Bigler of Florida Southern, 7-6, 2-6, 7-10.

Frank Sickman and Otto Lenhart both made it to the round of 32. Sickman was knocked out by teammate Daniel Dueren on his way to the championship round against fellow Blazer Philip Pakebusch. Pakebusch was able to beat Dueren, 6-3, 6-3, in the all-VSU championship round.

Lenhart and Christian Hansen were both beaten by Al Sarra of Lynn, but VSU earned the last laugh when Pakebusch knocked out Sarra in matching 6-4 sets in the semifinals.

Doubles was more of the same for Valdosta State. Dueren and Pakebusch teamed up to fly through the competition, winning 8-1, 8-3 and 8-6 to get to the semifinal round. The duo finally fell in the semifinals to Kevin Ducros and Leandro Ferreira of West Florida, 8-3.

Hansen and Kuech were also playing at a high level. They won 8-1 and 8-0 before meeting Ducros and Ferreira. Kuech and Hansen fought to the end, but Ducros and Ferreira were too much as the VSU team fell with a slim 9-8 loss in the quarterfinals.

Lenhart and Sickman won their first match, 8-4, but could not keep the momentum against the Barry team of Emanuel Fraitzel and Maximillian Wimmer. Fraitzel and Wimmer won, 8-5 before losing in the quarterfinals.

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