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Southwestern University

Pirates finish successful weekend at ITA Regional

Pirates finish successful weekend at ITA Regional
Posted: Sep 29, 2014

TYLER, Texas – Niko Snovely and Caleb Rightmer highlighted the Southwestern University men's tennis team's run over the weekend at the ITA Southwest Regional Tournament hosted by the University of Texas at Tyler.

Snovely – who entered the tournament ranked No. 13 after a stellar first-year – fought his way into the Round of 16 with a pair of wins before falling to 6th-ranked Daniel Budd. Budd of UT-Tyler held off Snovely 6-0, 6-2, to advance to the "A" Draw Quarterfinals.

Grant Gideon joined Snovely into the second round of the "A" Draw but fell 12th-ranked Justin Randell. Randell held off Gideon 6-4, 3-6, 10-6 to advance to the Round of 16.

 Caleb Rightmer marched his way into the "B" Draw Semifinals before falling to Trinity's Austin Crist, 6-4, 3-6, 10-3.

In addition to Rightmer's four wins in singles, he teamed with David Strong to win a pair of matches before falling the "B" Draw Doubles Semifinals. Rightmer andStrong knocked off the duo of Crist/Rivers of Trinity in the Quarterfinals, 8-5 to advance to the Semifinals. Copple and Hodous of UT-Tyler ended the pair's run with an 8-3 win in the semis.

Also in doubles play Snovely teamed with Grant Gideon and upset the No. 4 seed team of Mayers/Hobbs from Trinity, 8-6. Gideon and Snovely would knock the 8th-ranked team of Hardin-Simmons 9-8 before falling to No. 2 seed from Trinity, 8-5.

The Pirates also saw solid singles play from Rod Khansari and David Strong. Strong won two matches before falling in the Round of 16 while Khansari narrowly lost to Trinity's Crist, 6-3, 7-5, that would have set up an all Southwestern Seminfinal with Rightmer.