By Andrew Hornback
The Intercollegiate Tennis Association No. 26 doubles team of sophomores Austen Childs and Simon Childs defeated Steve Johnson and Jaak Poldma of South California 8-1 in the A-2 Doubles Flight of the University of Virginia Ranked Plus One Invitational this past Sunday.
Johnson, along with Robert Farah of USC, comprises the No. 11 doubles team in the nation while Poldma is ranked No. 32 in singles.
Simon Childs also placed third in the singles portion of the invitational, defeating Drew Courtney of the Virginia 6-3, 7-6(7).
“I think every weekend we’ve been making a statement. With the Childs’ doubles win this weekend and Simon coming in third in singles in his division, we’ve certainly been making a statement,” Rex Ecarma, U of L head coach, said. “Hopefully we can be competitive at the upcoming South Carolina Invitational without them though.”
The wins added to what has been a very solid start to the fall season for the Cards.
Freshman Robert Hall won his first collegiate title by defeating Indiana’s Maxime Armengaud 6-3, 6-0 in the singles final of the Hoosier Invitational. Andrew Carter, also a freshman, defeated Indiana’s Jonathan Schroeder 6-1, 6-1 in the backdraw.
In their first tournament competing as partners, senior Robert Rotaru and sophomore Alejandro Calligari advanced to the doubles final of the USTA National Tennis Center Invitational and fell just short against the No. 9 doubles team of Jonas Berg and Bram ten Berge of the Mississippi, 8-6.
“For them to go to the first ever collegiate tournament at the US Open and make it to the finals is a big deal. They were one point away from being up two service breaks against the team from Mississippi. They lost in a close match against the 9th ranked team in the country,” Ecarma said.
“I plan to pair the two together in the future. I really like that team, especially the way they performed together for the first time,” Ecarma said.
Next up for the Cards will be the South Carolina Invitational hosted by the University of South Carolina on October 3-5. Ecarma is sending the entire team minus Childs and Childs, who he plans to rest.
“They’ll be working out, getting some rest this weekend. But everyone else is going”, Ecarma said. “There are only going to be four teams in the tournament, South Carolina, Arkansas, UNC Chapel Hill, and us.”
Despite the small number of teams participating, Ecarma emphasized the importance of the event. “There will be two SEC teams and one ACC team, and those are historically the highest ranked conferences in the country”, Ecarma said. “We’re excited to be competing against them.”
The South Carolina Invitational will also mark the collegiate debut of Sumit Gupta, the highly talented freshman from India.
“I am a bit nervous. I think everyone is before there college debut. I believe in competition. I think I have good match experience and that’s going to help me a lot,” Gupta said. “I hope to bring back some really good results to [Louisville].”
“We’re all excited about Sumit’s debut, he brings a complete package to the table,” Ecarma said. “My goal in the fall is getting my players nationally ranked, the big goal is to win as much as possible, especially when the other guy is nationally ranked.”
The remainder of the fall season for the Cards will consist of other events similar to the invitational tournaments they have been competing in. So far, the Cards have shown they have the skills and depth to make a serious run at the Big East title in the spring. Add to that the talent level of the freshmen class and the motivating ability of Ecarma, and it certainly looks like a successful year of tennis at the University of Louisville is going to take place.
