BABSON PARK, Fla. (November 13, 2018) – The 2018-19 Webber International University tennis season featured four fall tournaments played during the months of September and October, and it was a successful fall overall for the Warriors.

Webber played in the Florida Tech Panther Invitational (Sep. 14-16) in Satellite Beach, Florida, the 2018 ITA Regional Championships (Sep. 26-29) in Boca Raton, Florida, the Youth Tennis Florida (YTF) Tournament (Oct. 19-21) in Lakeland, Florida, and finished up with the SCAD Fall Invite (Oct. 26-28) in Savannah, Georgia.

PANTHER INVITATIONAL: In Flight A men's singles, fifth-seeded Hugo Hasegawa (2-1) finished second out of six, defeating sixth-seeded Kaiki Naka of SCAD Savannah (6-3, 3-6, 10-8) and fourth-seeded Pakrut Patel of Eckerd College (6-2, 6-2). Top-seed Ivan Bondarenko also went 2-1 and finished third with wins over Patel (5-7, 6-0, 10-6) and James Finnigan of Florida Tech (7-6(8), 2-5, retired) before falling to eventual champion Matt Hulme from the College of Coastal Georgia (6-0, 7-5).

Out of 10 individuals in the Flight D men's singles, Marc Schneider (2-1) finished third with wins over the four-seed from Florida Tech (6-1, 7-5) and over the top-seed, also from Florida Tech, by a score of 6-0, 6-0.

The fourth-seeded duo of Hasegawa and Bondarenko went 2-1 and finished in second place out of six teams in Flight A of men's doubles. They defeated the second-seeded duo from Florida Tech (6-2) and the fifth-seeded duo from SCAD Savannah (6-3).

In the Flight B Bracket of men's doubles, the duos of Matthew Alexander and Kyle Hall and of Jordi Serrano and Schneider both advanced to the semifinals and then met up with each other in the third-place match, which was won by Alexander and Hall 6-4.

In women's action, Jenna Fosdick and Paula John finished third with a 6-3 win over a team from Eckerd in the back draw of the Flight A bracket of the women's doubles. In the back draw of the Flight B bracket of women's doubles, Emily John and Isabelle Niehoff won 6-2 over a duo from the University of Tampa to advance to the championship, and settled for a second-place finish after falling to the champions from Eckerd 7-5.

Individually, E. John won 4-6, 7-6(4), 13-11 to advance to the championship of the back draw of the Flight D bracket of the women's singles before falling to Dakota Busch from the University of Tampa (3-6, 6-2, 10-8) in the final. In the main draw of the Flight B bracket, P. John won 6-3, 7-5 over a player from Eckerd to advance to the semifinals before finishing in fourth; and then in the back draw of the Flight E bracket, Niehoff took down players from Eckerd and Florida Tech to become the champion.

ITA REGIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS: With potential national and regional rankings on the line, the fourth-seeded duo of Hugo Hasegawa and Ivan Bondarenko advanced all the way to the semifinals of the men's doubles bracket before falling to a duo from Keiser University 8-4. The pairings of Matthew Alexander and Kyle Hall and of Marc Schneider and Christof Buhler each earned opening-round wins before being denied a trip to the quarterfinals.

In men's singles action, Buhler advanced two rounds, including a 6-3, 5-7, 1-0(6) victory over Vitor Wagner of Warner University. Schneider won 6-0, 6-0 over Liam Dolehide from Ave Maria University, Bondarenko won 6-0, 6-2 over Julian Cuartas from Warner, and Alexander won 6-0, 6-1 over Jervahn Marshall of St. Thomas University, but all three men fell in the next round where Buhler advanced. In the back draw, Hasegawa won three times to advance to the championship, where he fell to Ben Dolan of the College of Coastal Georgia (7-5, ret.).

In women's singles, Paula John advanced to the quarterfinals (only non-Keiser player in the quarterfinals), beating out Webber's own Jenna Fosdick 6-3, 2-6, 6-2 to do so. Fosdick and John were joined in round three by Emily John and Isabelle Niehoff. In women's doubles, the duo of Jordashia Watson and Megan Kelson and the duo of E. John and Niehoff both advanced to the second round.

YTF TOURNAMENT: The Webber women's team put together a strong showing in the main draw of the women's red singles bracket as Isabelle Niehoff earned three wins to advance all the way to the championship, where she fell 6-3, 6-3 to Julia Wagner of the University of Tampa. In the same bracket, Paula John won twice and advanced to the semifinals herself before falling to Wagner by a score of 6-0, 6-2. Jordashia Watson earned an 8-6 win over Savannah Hancock from Warner University in the back draw of the red singles bracket.

The dynamic duo of Kyle Hall and Matthew Alexander highlighted the Warriors in the men's doubles bracket, advancing to the quarterfinals after taking down the duo of Jordi Serrano and Michael Kotlin by a score of 8-6.

In the main draw of the men's black singles, sixth-seeded Hugo Hasegawa advanced one round with a 6-0, 6-0 win over Vitor de Figueidredo of Warner University, as did Ivan Bondarenko with a 6-1, 6-2 win over Romeo Falconi from ASA Miami.

In the main draw of the men's red singles, top-seed Marc Schneider advanced with a 7-5, 6-3 win over Davin Hanton from Ave Maria University before falling in the quarterfinals. Serrano also advanced to the quarterfinals with a 6-1, 6-0 win over Pedro Bahniuk from Southeastern University. In the back draw, Kotlin won 9-8(4) over Alexander and then 8-5 over Bahniuk to advance to the championship, where he fell 8-3 to Davin Hanton of Ave Maria.

SCAD FALL INVITE: Top-seed Hugo Hasegawa advanced one round in the men's singles black bracket, Jordi Serrano advanced to the championship with two wins in the men's singles yellow bracket, and Emily John and Isabelle Niehoff advance one round in the women's doubles black bracket. Lastly, in the men's doubles black flight, Ivan Bondarenko and Serrano won two matches to lead the Warriors.

WORDS FROM COACH OTIS CUTSHAW: "It is always good to get some matches under our belt before the start of the spring season. This is more about seeing what players need to work on before the season starts and getting some much-needed match toughness. I feel it is a good thing to play a few tournaments for the freshman so they can get acclimated to college tennis and for returners to knock the rust off. We are excited about the dual match season coming up in the spring."

NEXT UP: The Warriors will now set their sights on the spring as Webber looks to make a run toward the postseason in its second year under Coach Otis Cutshaw. Webber will start its spring season at home against the College of Coastal Georgia, ranked No. 22 on the men's side, on Wednesday, January 23. It will actually be a three-match home stand to start for the Warriors, who also host Ave Maria University on Saturday, January 26, and host SCAD Savannah, ranked No. 11 on the women's side, on Saturday, February 2.