St. John's University Athletics
St. John’s Strong Run at ITA Regionals Continues
10/17/2021 5:32:00 PM | Men's Tennis
Vila Antuna and Garcia Advance to Doubles Semi-Finals
PHILADELPHIA - The impressive weekend for the St. John's men's tennis team continues at the ITA Northeast Regionals. Axel Vila Antuna and Ignacio Garcia headline the efforts as they advance to the semifinals in the doubles bracket with an 8-4 victory over Buffalo's Simon Wibler and Cheng Tang.
In their first round of play in Philadelphia, the duo skated by Yale's Michael Sun and Theo Dean, 8-7 (7). Antuna, the 2021 Southland Conference Player of the Year, and Garcia, the 2021 All-BIG EAST First-Teamer, have dominated their opponents. The pair has won its last three matches by four games or more (8-4, 8-3, 8-4) to secure a berth to the semifinals. On Monday, the two upperclassmen will meet Brian Shi and Daniel Mivalsky of Harvard with a spot in the finals on the line.
In singles, eight Johnnies have taken the court over the last four days at the University of Pennsylvania. The group has accounted for 14 total victories and has seen four players advance to the main draw.
Antuna recorded the strongest individual performance with three singles wins in Philadelphia. After two victories in straight sets, the Valencia, Spain, native rallied back from a 2-6 setback to Columbia's Henry Ruger (2-6, 6-1, 6-1). In his second match on Sunday, the junior fell in the Round of 16 to Harvard's Milavsky, 6-3 and 6-4.
The tournament began Thursday as five Johnnies competed in the qualifying round. Each player recorded a win with Yaron Guberman, Giuseppe De Camelis and Carl Gustafsson all posting multiple victories to secure a spot in the main draw.
De Camelis and Gustafsson remained impressive as a doubles pairing. In their first match as partners at the Penn Invite back on Sept. 19, the duo garnered a win and continued that trend this week. The team bested host's Aditya Gupta and Harsh Parikh before falling in the Round of 16 to Princeton's Justin Barki and Thomas Bosancic, 8-4.
Players Mentioned
