MORAGA, Calif. - Three Santa Clara men's tennis singles players won their opening round matches at the ITA Northwest Regional Championships to advance to the round of 32 on Wednesday.
James Bell, a transfer from Louisville, defeated Karlo Divkovic of Saint Mary's in straight sets 6-2, 6-4 while Santiago Hinojosa needed three sets to take down San Francisco's Mitchell Johnson, 7-6 (7-1), 3-6, 6-4. Both Bell and Hinojosa recorded their third-straight singles wins of the fall.
Arthur Neuhaus dropped just one game to cruise past Pacific's Coby McCaig, 6-1, 6-0.
The round of 32 singles matches will be played on Thursday as part of the five-day tournament at the Timothy Korth Tennis Complex on the campus of Saint Mary's College.
The ITA Regional Championships feature some of the top men's and women's players across the country. Over 8,000 student-athletes from NCAA Division I, II, III, NAIA, Junior and Community Colleges compete across 85 ITA Regional Championships around the country. In Division I, regional doubles champions and regional singles champions and finalists qualify for the season-ending ITA National Fall Championships.
ITA Northwest Regional Championships
Oct 13-17, 2021 at Moraga, Calif. (Timothy Korth Tennis Complex)
Singles competition
R64 James Bell (Santa Clara) def. Karlo Divkovic (SMC) 6-2, 6-4
R64 Rudolfs Aksenoks (SAC ST) def. Nick Cmager (Santa Clara) 6-3, 1-6, 6-1
R64 Boris Reckow (SMC) def. Ryan Ali (Santa Clara) 6-4, 6-4
R64 Arthur Neuhaus (Santa Clara) def. Coby McCaig (PAC) 6-1, 6-0
R64 Andrei Volgin (UCD) def. Matthew Rodriguez (Santa Clara), by default
R64 Santiago Hinojosa (Santa Clara) def. Mitchell Johnson (USF) 7-6 (7-1), 3-6, 6-4
Doubles competition
R32 R Morgan/R Torres (UCD) def. Ryan Ali/James Bell (Santa Clara) 8-7 (7-4)
R32 C Ramos/F Rincon (SMC) def. Nick Cmager/Santiago Hinojosa (Santa Clara) 8-7 (7-3)
R32 R Aksenoks/P Wong (SAC ST) def. James Bell/Mann Shah (Santa Clara), by default