PHILADELPHIA, PA. -- The FDU Knights men's tennis team took part in one of the best ITA Regional Championships performances in recent program history, as the Knights went 9-4 overall over the four days, including a Round of 32 finish for junior Teodors Pukse in singles competition and Round of 16 finish with Niclas Pietsch in doubles action.
FDU sent four men to Philadelphia to participate, including the aforementioned Pukse and Pietsch, who won four matches, advancing from the qualifying stages all the way to the third day of competition. On the championship, Pukse went 6-2, with one a run through the ITAs the likes of Arvis Berzins in 2014, where he made the quarterfinals of singles play.
Pukse and Pietsch fought hard in doubles action, earning three straight victories with a tiebreaker to advance into the Round of 16, while Pukse toppled Jan Godfrey Sano in the Round of 128, 6-4, 6-2, before earning a victory by retirement of Jason Hildebrandt as Pukse led the match having won the first set 6-4.
Other Knights shone during the tournament, including reigning NEC Men's Tennis Freshman of the Month Justas Trainauskas, who also earned a spot directly into the main bracket for singles play, where he earned a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Drexel's Sanil Jagtani. Mehdi Dhouib also participated in both singles and doubles action, earning a 7-5, 6-1 victory over Tom Russwurm of Fordham in his opening match of singles qualifying action, and teaming with Trainauskas to take an 8-7 (4) victory over Princeton's Bill Duo and Bill Smith.
DAY FOUR BOX SCORE
SINGLES ROUND OF 32
Justin Barki (Princeton) def. Teodors Pukse (FDU), 6-2, 6-4
DAY THREE BOX SCORE
SINGLES ROUND OF 64
Ronan Jachuk (Harvard) def. Justas Trainauskas (FDU), 6-4, 6-1
Teodors Pukse (FDU) def. Jason Hildebrandt (Penn), 6-4, 0-1 (retired)
DOUBLES ROUND OF 32
Edoardo Graziani/Kevin Zhu (Penn) def. Mehdi Dhouib/Justas Trainauskas (FDU), 8-6
Teodors Pukse/Niclas Pietsch (FDU) def. Jonathan Olive Blanco/Keean Shah (Fairfield) 8-7, (10-8)
DOUBLES ROUND OF 16
Alafia Ayeni/Vladislav Melnic (Cornell) def. Teodors Pukse/Niclas Pietsch (FDU), 8-2
DAY TWO BOX SCORE
DOUBLES QUALIFYING ROUND OF 8
Niclas Pietsch/Teodors Pukse (FDU) def. Nate Romig/Nick Potter (Colgate), 8-7 (4)
DOUBLES ROUND OF 64
Niclas Pietsch/Teodors Pukse (FDU) def. A.J. Woodman/Thomas Lake (Army), 8-7 (3)
Mehdi Dhouib/Justas Trainauskas (FDU) def. Bill Duo/Ben Smith (Princeton), 8-7 (4)
SINGLES ROUND OF 128
Justas Trainauskas (FDU) def. Sanil Jagtiani (Drexel), 6-2, 6-1
Teodors Pukse (FDU) def. Jan Godfrey Seno (St. Francis Brooklyn), 6-4, 6-2
DAY ONE BOX SCORE
SINGLES QUALIFYING ROUND OF 64
Mehdi Dhouib (FDU) def. Tom Russwurm (Fordham), 7-5, 6-1
SINGLES QUALIFYING ROUND OF 32
Baylor Sai (Penn) def. Mehdi Dhouib (FDU), 6-1, 6-4
DOUBLES QUALIFYING ROUND OF 16
Niclas Pietsch/Teodors Pukse (FDU) def. Dan Pergel/Anshumat Srivastava (Binghamton), 8-2
