First-year Advik Mareedu dropped the first set of his young career (7-5 in the second) to Tristan Bradley of Bowdoin, but bounced back to win the third set 6-2 to win the national singles title at the ITA Cup on Saturday morning at the Rome Tennis Center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Full set scores were 6-4, 5-7, 6-2 as Mareedu became the first Stag to take the ITA Cup singles title since Michael Starr did it in 2006, also as a first-year at Harvey Mudd College.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The win improves Mareedu to 9-0 in his young career, including five wins at the ITA West Regionals from Sept. 30-Oct. 2, and then four at the ITA Cup. He breezed through the regionals with five straight set wins, with none of the sets even coming closer than 6-4 (when he defeated Caleb Wilkins of Chapman 6-3, 6-4 in the finals).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the ITA Cup, he was tested a few times, beginning with Thursday’s quarterfinals against Thomas Yu of Johns Hopkins, when he won a second set tiebreaker 7-0 to take a 6-2, 7-6 win, bouncing back after dropping four straight games to fall behind 6-5 in the second set. \u2028\u2028In the semifinals on Friday, facing Reid Staples of Bowdoin, he earned a 6-4, 7-6 win, fighting off three set points in the second set, including one at 6-5 in the tiebreaker, the start of a 3-0 run to close it out. That set up another matchup with a Bowdoin player on Saturday in the finals, and he came through in three sets to earn the first-place trophy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mareedu and the Stags will next be in action in the spring, when they open up play on Feb. 11 with two home matches against Biola and Concordia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n