ATHENS, Ga. – Mario Paccini and Felipe Sarrasague faced challenging competiton at the Southern Intercollegiate, Friday-Monday, Sept. 23-26, hosted by the University of Georgia. Each player faced ranked oppoents in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) top-75 during the tournament in both singles and doubles play.
“I was pleased with the way Mario and Felipe played this weekend,” said assistant coach Cesar Vargas. “They showed a lot of character and resiliency while facing faced some of the best competition in the country. There’s still a lot of work that needs to be done, but this tournament showed us that we’re definitely moving in the right direction.”
HIGHLIGHTS
Paccini highlighted the weekend with a 6-2, 6-2 win over the Singles Main Draw’s No. 13-seed Christian Langmo of Miami in the Round of 64. Langmo is the No. 58-ranked singles player by the ITA. Paccini then fell 6-4, 6-0 to Nathan Ponwith of Georgia in the Round of 32.
The duo also competed in doubles play on Saturday. After defeating Virginia Tech duo of Corbett and Harper 6-3 in the Round of 64, Paccini and Sarrasague fell 6-3 to the main draw’s No. 1-seed and ITA No. 5-ranked doubles team Schipanski and Valero of Tennessee in the Round of 32.
Sarrasague had a challenging first match in the main draw, matching up against the draw’s No. 1 seed and the ITA’s No. 11-ranked singles player, Michael Redlicki of Arkansas. After falling 6-1, 6-2 to Redlicki, Sarrasague picked up two singles wins in the consolation draw defeating Anton Waern of Georgia College 6-2, 6-1 and Ignacio Hernandez of Armstrong State 6-3, 6-2.
Paccini also played an additional singles match against ITA No. 95-ranked Jolan Cailleau of Texas Tech, but fell 6-1, 6-4.
UP NEXT
The Phoenix will now take a break and prepare for the upcoming ITA Carolina Regionals, Oct. 14-17, in Cary, N.C.