FLUSHING, NY – At the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, tie breakers were the storyline for both tennis teams during Day 2 of the Oracle/ITA East Region tournament.  Five Spartans advanced to play on Day three – the first time ever for either program.

Eliza Mulder ’23 (Schoonhoven, Nethlerlands) won two singles matches on the day, defeating her opponent from Goldey-Beacom 6-3, 7-6 (4) and following that with a win over Alexandra Dumitrescu from Concordia 7-6 (6), 6-3.  Carla Mentrup ’22 (Munich, Germany) won her first main draw match in a super tie break 6-3, 5-7, 1-0 (4) before bowing out to the number five seed from Concordia.

On the men’s side, Roberto Chong ’21 (Puigpunyent, Spain) had a first round bye before winning his second round match in a super tie break 6-4, 5-7, 1-0 (12).  The epic matchup against Konstantin Kalchev of the University of the District of Columbia lasted two hours and featured some of the best play of the tournament.  Fellow transfer Odysseas Papaioannou ’22 (Thessaloniki, Greece) won his first round match 6-0, 6-4, then followed that with another epic duel in the second round against the number fifteen seed Jonatan Lundahl from Concordia.  After splitting the first two sets, the feisty Greek fought off four match points in the super tie breaker and took the match 6-3, 3-6, 1-0 (14).

Junior Cassandra Rohr ’21 (Mallorca, Spain) breezed through her first round match 6-2, 6-0 and advanced to the round of 16 via a walkover.  Marcel Volz ’22 (Iffezheim, Germany) had a first round bye then won his second round matchup 6-2, 6-1.  The doubles pairing of Chong and Papaioannou won their match 8-3 to advance to the quarterfinals. 

Sunday’s matches start at 10 AM, with Chong and Papaioannou facing Nkruma Patrick and Alejandro Ortiz of Franklin Pierce.  In an interesting twist, Chong and Patrick were doubles partners at Franklin Pierce last season.  Mulder also squares off in the opening slot, facing number four seed Simone Parn of UDC.  Remaining matches to follow order of play.