Tennis finishes fall season at ITA

Last week, first-year Laura Chen took second place and junior James Muliawan took sixth place at the ITA National Small College Singles Championship, a four-day tournament held in Mobile, Ala.

In the first round, Muliawan lost in a long match to Middlebury College’s Conrad Olson 7–5, 6–2. He regrouped in the next round, winning 1–6, 6–1, 6–0, but then lost to Max Liberty-Point of the University of California at Santa Cruz in the fifth-place match, 6–0, 7–6 (2). Muliawan was also named University Athletic Association (UAA) Athlete of the Week and has gained the title of All-American.

Chen was able to battle through two tough matches, taking out Claire Mesnil of Hendrix College 6–4, 4–6, 6–4 after falling behind 3–0 in the third set, and second seed Elizabeth Lewis of Chapman University 6–2, 6–4. The championship match proved to be a bit more difficult, as Chen faced Jennifer Kung of University of Chicago, who in an earlier round had defeated the first seed. Chen grabbed the first set, 6–3, but Kung was able to fight back and take the second set 7–5. Kung maintained her momentum to win the final set 6–4.

“It was a great experience to see and watch people from other divisions play,” Chen said. “But I especially enjoyed eating at Sonic and staying in the Drury Inn.

“James lost because he ate too many onion rings,” she added jokingly.

Both tennis teams will resume play in the spring.