October
4, 2009
(release courtesy of Dave Blanchard, Luther College sports information director)
ST. PETER, MINN . . . The Luther College duo of Scott Sundstrom and Utsab Rijal posted a record of 6-0 at the 2009 Men's ITA Midwest Regional en route to capturing the doubles title this afternoon in St. Peter, Minn. Gustavus Adolphus hosted the three-day tournament.
Sundstrom and Rijal, seeded #8, defeated #9 seed Phil Loprinzi and Chris Kunn from UW-Eau Claire 6-4, 6-7 (5), 10-7 to claim the 2009 title. The Luther duo advanced to the championship match defeating the #1 seeds Mike Greenberg and Will Vandenberg of Kenyon 8-6 in the semifinals.
The Wilson/ITA Midwest Regional at Gustavus featured the top small college tennis players from 26 schools in the states of Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Ohio. As champions of the Midwest Regional, Sundstrom and Rijal have already earned ITA All-American honors and will now advance to the Intercollegiate Tennis Association National Small College Championships which will take place Oct. 15-18 at the Copeland-Cox Tennis Center in Mobile, Alabama.
"I couldn't be happier for Scott and Utsab," commented Head Coach Brian Huinker. "The ITA Regional is a three-day grind and they showed a lot of determination and heart to be the last doubles team standing."
Sundstrom, the 2009 Iowa Conference singles champion and league MVP, also reached the semifinals of the singles tournament. After posting straight set victories over #17 David Croonquist of Hamline, #9 Danny Glinert of UW-Whitewater, #6 Amrik Donkena of Gustavus, he was defeated by #5 Ben Guzick of Carleton 6-2, 5-7, 6-4 in the semifinal round.
Harrison Whiteley and 2007 Iowa Conference MVP Max Busch were one match away from making the Midwest Regional Doubles championship an all Luther final. Whitely and Busch were defeated by Loprinzi and Kunn 9-7 in the semifinals.
Prior to this match, Whiteley and Busch posted a fourth round victory over #9 seeds Joey Van Lieshout and Nick Piotrowski of UW-La Crosse 8-4; over #6 seeds Danny Glinert and Kelvin Caiati of UW-Whitewater 9-7 in the quarterfinals.
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