CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA.- The Wildcats concluded their fall season at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Atlantic Regional Tournament with a strong showing.
 
This six-day contest began on Wednesday October 19, hosted by the ITA and held at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia. This large competition consisted of three draws, Bronze, Silver, and Gold. The Bronze draw is a prequalifying draw to make it into the Silver draw. There are three rounds of Bronze singles and doubles starting with 64 matchups, to 32 match ups and then 16 matchups. After the third rounds, whoever is left will advance to the Silver draw and compete against other teams who already qualified for this draw. Teams and individual players battle it out in the Silver draw for a spot in the Gold which is the main draw of the tournament. There was one round of consolation matches in each draw.
 
Villanova began the competition in the Bronze draw. The Wildcats sent seven of their finest student athletes to compete and were among multiple teams to participate in the Bronze draw of the series hosted by the ITA including, Bucknell, Delaware, Duquesne, Georgetown, George Mason, Howard, James Madison, Liberty, Mount Saint Mary's, Navy, Penn State, Radford, Richmond, Saint Joseph's, Temple, VCU, Virginia Tech, and William & Mary.

On day one of the ITA Atlantic Regional, the first round resulted in four matches of singles to prove successful for the Wildcats while the rest were sent to the consolation bracket.
 
Competing in the Bronze doubles draw were the pair of seniors Justin Suarez and Alex Kim, the duo of juniors Noah Winton and Josh Robinson, and the freshman twosome of Cooper Gordon and Tighe Brunetti. Suarez and Kim faced Duquesne's Jin Dassanayake and Tamirlan Teberikov and fell in a 2-8 loss. Winton and Robinson took on Richmond's Alaister Burker and Alex Wernink who bested them in an 8-3 defeat. Gordon and Brunetti had to submit a walkover due to injury.
 
As for singles there was much success to be had on their first outing as Winton took a three-set win over Howard's Hassimiyou Dieng with a score resulting in 2-6, 6-0, 7-5. Gordon took on Richmond's Alex Wernink winning out the 6-4, 6-1 competition. Robinson joined his fellow Wildcats overcoming Bucknell's Brendan McDonald in a 2-6, 6-1, 6-2 win.  Brunetti was the last of the Wildcats to persevere over the competition of Duquesne's Tamirlan Teberikov in a 2-6, 6-2, 6-1 victory. All four Wildcats advanced to the second round.
 
Of the three Wildcats to be sent to the consolation bracket they include Kim who took on George Mason's Zavan Fahim and battled forcing a tie breaker but ultimately fell in a 6-0, 7-6 (7-4) loss. Like his doubles partner, Suarez was also bested in a close 6-4, 7-5 fight. Junior Ryan Nguyen joined his fellow Wildcats in moving over to the consolation bracket after a tough 6-3. 6-3 loss to Penn State's Pranav Nemani.
 
Day two allowed for the singular round of consolation matches in the Bronze draw to commence with one Wildcat winning in singles and one team of Wildcats winning in doubles. The singles championship bracket advanced the remaining Villanova players further into the competition.
 
In the double's consolation bracket, Winton and Robinson were defeated 8-2 by Oscar Bain and Brendan McDonald from Bucknell. Suarez and Kim were supposed to take on Mount Saint Mary's Elliot Stevens and Giovanni Abriola but the match was not played. Of the three remaining Wildcat doubles teams in the consolation bracket, Gordon and Brunetti faced off against Radford's Robert Hagen and Manfredi Vergine and took the 8-4 victory to end their time at the Atlantic Regional on a high note.
 
In the singles championship bracket Robinson defeated Harrison Janes from Penn State in a 1-6, 6-4, 6-3 win. Gordon faced off against Howard's Justin Cadeau in a tight battle coming out with the 3-6, 6-3, 4-6 victory. Winton fought hard against George Mason's Niza Simunyola but fell in a 0-6, 2-6 loss. Robinson and Gordon advanced to the next round.
 
In the singles consolation bracket Kim fell to Duquesne's Bode Vance in a 0-6, 4-6 loss and Suarez fell to Mount Saint Mary's Christos Dagklis in a 1-6, 4-6 defeat. Nguyen was the lone Wildcat to prove victorious over Richmond's Mark Taranov in a tie breaker 6-0, 4-6, 9-11 win to a victory home to end the tournament.
 
Day three of the tournament ended the Wildcats time in Charlottesville as all remaining teams met their match in the third round of prequalifying play.
 
In the singles championship bracket both Robinson and Gordon fought hard but were ultimately defeated in the third round. Gordon faced off against Adamantios Stravakas from Bucknell and fell in a close 5-7, 3-6 loss. Robinson took on William & Mary's Alexander Karman which resulted in a 1-6, 2-6 defeat concluding the Wildcats fall season.
 
The Wildcats displayed some great performances in throughout fall competition and will return to action in the spring for their official season of play.