CMA comes up short in regional final

By Paul Dendiu
Pilot Sports

SOUTH BEND - The Culver Academy boys tennis team had a small window of opportunity against Penn on Wednesday.

It didn't stay open very long.

The Kingsmen successfully defended their regional title, defeating the Eagles 4-1 in a match that could have easily gone down to the last court.

Culver Academy (17-1) won the opening sets of two singles matches. Omar Kattan jumped on Dean Guyer early at No. 3, taking the first set 6-3 after building a 5-2 lead. Rogelio Lemarroy got ahead 4-1 versus Garrett Brinker at No. 2 and broke him for a 6-2 win.

”That was scary,“ said Penn coach Rick Dukeshier about his team's start. ”Then we split sets at No. 1 doubles and the match was up for grabs.“

Peter Ianello and Sharif Kattan lost the first set, 6-1, to Ben Belleville and T.J. Snelson, but the Academy's No. 1 doubles team charged back to grab a 5-2 advantage in the second and win 6-3 to pull even.

”I think the window was when we were closing out at No. 2 singles, we were starting a third set at No. 3 singles and we were split at No. 1 doubles,“ Academy coach Alan Loehr said. ”I thought we had to have an upset at 3 singles today. When Guyer went up early in the third set, the window closed.“

After Kattan held to tie the final set at 1-1, Guyer ran off five straight games.

”That match was there for the taking. Guyer was simply more aggressive and hungrier at that time,“ Loehr said.

Lemarroy lost a comfortable 5-2 lead in the second, then outlasted Brinker 7-3 in a tiebreaker, ending the match with an amazing forehand return winner up the line.

”I anticipated Rogelio being competitive in that match. Brinker has been an outstanding player in this area for a number of years. We knew that second set wasn't going to be easy,“ Loehr said.

The Eagles didn't have an easy time at No. 1 singles or No. 2 doubles, managing just six total games. Top player Frank Sunseri accounted for five of them, succumbing to Chris Jordan, 6-3, 6-2.

”Penn has a lot of senior leadership, a little bit more big match experience, and a really skilled No. 1 player. Jordan is just absolutely solid every time he goes out there,“ Loehr said. ”We were here a year ago and Penn took us out handily (5-0). Tonight, we were in there. We had a shot at this thing. We've clearly made progress and that's good for our program.“

Penn will face the winner of the Portage Regional this Saturday at the South Bend Clay Semistate.

PENN 4, CULVER ACADEMY 1
At South Bend Regional (Leeper Park)
SINGLES: 1. Chris Jordan (PE) beat Frank Sunseri 6-3, 6-2; 2. Rogelio Lemarroy (CA) beat Garrett Brinker 6-2, 7-6 (3); 3. Dean Guyer (PE) beat Omar Kattan 3-6, 6-2, 6-1.
DOUBLES: 1. T.J. Snelson-Ben Belleville (PE) beat Peter Ianello-Sharif Kattan 6-3, 3-6, 6-4; 2. Gautham Vaidyanthan-Troy Brinker (PE) beat Nithin Reddy-Michael Dixon 6-1, 6-0.
Records: Culver Academy 17-1, Penn 18-1.