ROME, Ga. -
Advik Mareedu fell behind in both sets, but rallied back both times to take a 6-4, 7-5 win over Ethan Green of Denison to earn his second ITA Cup singles championship of his career on Sunday morning at the Rome Tennis Center.
Mareedu also won the ITA Cup as a freshman in 2022, and improves his all-time singles record in ITA fall competition to 24-2, including three straight ITA West Regional championships in his first three seasons.
The final was straight sets, but it was anything but an easy road for Mareedu, who jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first set before Green rallied back with four straight wins to take a 4-2 lead and was serving to go up 5-2. Mareedu earned a huge break to get back on serve, and then took a deuce point up 5-4 to win the first set 6-4.
Green seized the momentum back in the second set, jumping out to a 3-0 lead by breaking Mareedu at deuce and then holding serve at love. Mareedu held to get back to within 3-1, and then earned two straight points with Green up 40-30 to break back.
Green went ahead 5-4, and then earned two straight points on Mareedu's serve to get to deuce and pick up a set point, but Mareedu came through with another clutch hold to level the second set 5-5. He broke Green to earn a chance to serve for the match, and after falling behind 15-30, he rattled off three points in a row to earn his second ITA Cup trophy.
Mareedu came in as the top seed in the tournament, after ending last year as the No. 2 ranked singles player in the nation. He defeated the player ranked No. 1, Tristan Bradley of Bowdoin (who he also defeated to win the 2022 ITA Cup singles championship) for the decisive point in a 5-4 win in the NCAA Semifinals in May. Bradley went on to win the NCAA singles title, but transferred to USC in the offseason, leaving Mareedu as the top ranked returning Division III tennis player.
The Stags had a successful weekend as a team, with
Caleb Settles and
Brandon Vu going 2-1 in doubles, including a win over the No. 2 seed in the field from Emory, while
Warren Pham and
Matthew Robinson earned a win over the top-seeded team from RPI. Pham also capped off his weekend with a consolation win in singles.
CMS will be back in action in the spring as the Stags will set their sights on a team national title, after coming up one point short in a 5-4 defeat to Chicago in the finals last season.
