Hull finishes seventh at ITA Small College Nationals
Sophomore Glenn Hull (Brookings, OR) was a straight set winner over Gustavus Aldophus' Motasem Al-Houni on Saturday to claim seventh place at the USTA/ITA Small College National Championships in Sumter, South Carolina. Hull had qualified for the national event by winning the USTA/ITA West Regionals in Claremont two weeks earlier.
Hull, seeded fourth in the eight-man event, opened play on Thursday against freshman Steven Chen of Wesleyan, who had qualified from the Northeast Regional. Chen's consistent baseline play and defense were enough to outlast the Stags' sophomore 6-2, 6-4 in a match that was closer than the score would indicate. On Friday in the first round of the consolation draw, Hull then faced top seed Alex Ruderman of Emory. Ruderman employed a similarly steady, counter-punching gamestyle to Hull's more aggressive, and yet at times, inconsistent groundstroke attack. Ruderman held a 6-3, 5-3 lead, but Hull was able win three straight games and force a second set tie-break. Hull won four of the first five points in the tie-break, but couldn't hold the lead, dropping the tie-break 8-6.
Playing the 7th/8th play-off on Saturday, Hull was determined to gain an early lead and hold it. He earned his first break in the sixth game of the opening set, and then broke again to win the first 6-2. After dropping serve to begin the second set, Hull fell behind 3-1 but then won the final five games of the match to secure the 6-2, 6-3 victory.
Hull concludes a successful D3 fall campaign by earning ITA All-American honors and a ranking of #7 nationally. He is the fourth consecutive Stag singles player to qualify for USTA/ITA Small College Nationals, and seventh in the past nine years.