May 2, 2009

CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA . . . The Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (IIAC) crowned champions in five individual flights (three singles and two doubles) on Saturday at the Conference Men’s Tennis Flighted Individual Tournament. The Conference also announced the 2009 IIAC All-Conference Men’s Tennis Team. The Most Valuable Player and Coach of the Year will be announced next week.

In Flight A singles, top-seeded Scott Sundstrom of Luther topped teammate and No. 2-seed Harrison Whiteley in straight sets to become the third Luther player in four years to capture the Flight A singles title. Just a freshman, Sundstrom defeated another teammate, Thomas Orser, 6-2, 6-0 in the Saturday morning semifinals to reach the Championship match. In his semifinal, Whiteley outlasted Coe's Sam Zerbib 6-3, 4-6, 1-0 (4) in a rematch of last year's Flight A third-place match. Orser topped Zerbib 6-3, 6-4 to capture third place this year.

In Flight B singles, No. 2-seeded Jonathan Roger of Coe defeated No. 5-seed Joe LaFountaine of Luther 6-1, 6-3 in the semifinals and top-seed Tyler Zinnecker of Luther 6-4, 6-1 in the Championship match to take the title. Zinnecker defeated teammate Cole Henry 6-3, 6-2 in the semifinals. Henry rebounded by topping LaFountaine 1-0 (6) in a match tie-breaker for third place. Roger is Coe's first Flight B singles champion since Chris McGrath in 2001.

Flight C singles saw Chase Krebsbach of Luther defeat teammate Zach Kulzer 6-1, 6-2 in the final. Krebsbach, who downed Dubuque's Chris Matteson 6-2, 6-0 in the semifinals, ended a streak of back-to-back Flight C singles titles for the Spartans. Kulzer defeated Lucas Pipenhagen of Dubuque 4-6, 7-5, 1-0 (5) in the other semifinal. Pipenhagen defeated Matteson 6-2, 6-1 in an all-Dubuque third-place match.

In Flight A doubles, Coe's Elliot Rausa/Sam Zerbib defeated Luther's Thomas Orser/Utsab Rijal 8-5 in the Championship match. Rausa/Zerbib placed third a year ago. Luther's Samriddh Burman/Nate Jung captured third place with a 9-8 (5) victory over Coe's Joey Lankelma/Victor Khristenko. Lankelma also placed fourth a year ago.

In Flight B doubles, Tyler Zinnecker/Cole Henry of Luther topped teammates Tyler Van Heest/Joe LaFountaine by an 8-6 score. Simpson's Noah Saunders/Kyle Shilling defeated Joe Holguin/Jared Levy in the third-place math, 8-4. Zinnecker/Henry defeated Holguin/Levy (8-4) and Van Heest/LaFountaine defeated Saunders/Shilling (8-3) in the semifinals. Henry also won the Flight B doubles title in 2007 teaming with Jared Wiklund.

Complete results from the two-day Individual Flighted Tournament can be found here.

All-Conference: The quarterfinalists in Flight A singles and the semifinalists in Flight A doubles are recognized as All-Conference. The 2009 Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Men’s Tennis All-Conference Team is here.

-30-