Whitman's La Cava, Pacific's Doubles Tandem Top ITA Brackets
QUICK LINK: Tournament Web Site
FOREST GROVE – Two-time defending singles champion Andrew La Cava of Whitman and Pacific's doubles tandem of
Troy Zuroske and
Giancarlo Battaglia sit atop the brackets as the men to beat as Pacific University hosts the USTA/ITA Division III Northwest Men's Small College Tennis Championship this weekend.
The unofficial start of the 2012-13 Northwest Conference tennis season, the tournament runs Friday through Monday at the Tualatin Hills Parks & Recreation Center in Beaverton, with select matches taking place at the West Hills Racquet Club in Portland. The finals for both brackets will take place on Monday. The winners will advance to the USTA/ITA National Small College Championship, which take place Oct. 11-14 in Mobile, Ala.
La Cava, the No. 1 seed in the singles bracket, is the two-time defending regionals champion and the reigning Northwest Conference Player of the Year. He finished his sophomore season with a 13-5 record with all of his matches in the No. 1 flight. He led the Missionaries to a fifth NWC title and a berth in the NCAA Division III Championships. In addition, La Cava was an individual qualifier for the NCAA Championships, falling in the second round.
Zuroske and Battaglia earned the No. 1 seed in the doubles bracket after a standout season in the spring for the Boxers. The tandem combined for a 12-5 record and lost just one NWC match the entire season. The pair helped lead Pacific to a second place NWC finish, the team's best in recent history. The pair was one of two Pacific doubles teams selected to compete at April's Ojai Valley Tennis Tournament, which serves as the NCAA's west regional tournament.
Rounding out the top-four seeds in the singles bracket are No. 2 seed Josh Wong of Willamette, No. 3 seed Zuroske and No. 4 seed Andy Riggs of Whitman.
Wong, a three-time First Team All-NWC selection, finished the spring with an 8-8 record and advanced to the second round of the Ojai Valley Tournament. Zuroske is a two-time First Team All-NWC selection and finished with a 9-9 record as the Boxers' No. 1 player. Higgs is a recent transfer to Whitman from Division III Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, N.J., was a First Team All-Empire 8 Conference selection for the Ducks in the spring after going 18-1.
Seeded under Zuroske and Battaglia in the doubles bracket are the No. 2 team of La Cava and James Rivers of Whitman, the No. 3 team of Riggs and Matt Tesmond of Whitman and the No. 4 team of Chris Lilley and Justin McClain of George Fox.
La Cava and Rivers finished with a 5-1 record for the Missionaries in the spring with all of their matches coming in the No. 2 flight. Riggs and Tesmond, meanwhile, will pair together for the first time. Tesmond amassed a 15-8 record in doubles last year while paired with the graduated Conor Holton-Burke. Lilley and McClain will also pair up for the first time. McClain went 11-7 in doubles last spring while paired with Peter Brown and Andy Tweet.
Complete tournament brackets, a tournament schedule and updated draws can be found online at
http://bit.ly/PsX2hR. In addition, periodic updates will be made via the Pacific tennis Twitter account, which can be found
@BoxerTennis.
