On Oct. 2-7, six members of the Tech men’s tennis team traveled to Tulsa, Okla. to take part in the D’Novo/ITA All-American Championship.
In the pre-qualification round on Oct. 3, sophomore Magin Ortega won his first round match in three sets over SMU’s Robert Lambeth but was eliminated in the next round, 6-3, 1-6, 6-2, by UCLA’s Clay Thompson.
Junior Dusan Miljevic won both of his matches Saturday 6-4, 6-3 to make it to Sunday’s portion of the tournament.
Sophomore Juan Spir and senior Dean O’Brien each had byes in the tournament’s first round, but both won their second matches in straight sets to reach Sunday.
Senior Eliot Potvin and junior Kevin King are already entered in the qualification round.
On Sunday, Oct. 3, Miljevic and Spir both won their matches to advance to Monday’s qualification round.
Miljevic defeated Eric West of Oklahoma State in three sets (3-6, 6-3, 6-2) in the third round of the pre-qualification draw, then beat Javier Pulgar of San Diego State in straight sets, 6-1, 7-6 (1) in the fourth round.
Spir had a more difficult time than Miljevic, but he managed to defeat Krzysztof Muzalewski of Old Dominion, 3-6, 6-0, 6-1, in the third round. Spir then went on to defeat Benedikt Lindheim of Nebraska, 5-7, 6-1, 7-5 in the next round.
Andrew Butz of Florida defeated O’Brien in three sets to end the senior’s tournament.
On Monday, Spir and Miljevic joined Potvin and King in the qualification round, but only two Jackets would make it to the following round.
Spir won another tough three setter, 7-6 (4), 3-6, 6-3, over Hichan Laalej of UPenn, but Miljevic could not continue his streak. Tobias Fanslow of Old Dominion defeated Miljevic 6-3, 0-6, 6-2.
Potvin, playing in his first match of the tournament, needed a third-set tiebreaker to defeat Alexander Paleaz of Illinois State, 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (6) to advance to the second round on Tuesday.
King also began his tournament on Monday, but his hopes of winning it ended when he lost his first match in three sets.
Potvin lost his match on Tuesday to Matteo Fago of Tennessee, 6-3, 6-3, but Spir used his momentum to win two more two-set matches. Spir defeated Nikola Bubnic of San Diego, 7-5, 7-5 and Marcos Horny of Maryland 6-2, 6-3.
Spir’s victories mean that he will join senior Guillermo Gomez in the tournament’s main draw on Oct. 8-11.