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Katzman earned a pair of three-set victories on Friday to advance to the Singles National Championship Match on Saturday. (photo credit: Alisha Alexander)
Katzman earned a pair of three-set victories on Friday to advance to the Singles National Championship Match on Saturday. (photo credit: Alisha Alexander)

Jack Katzman Advances to Individual Championship Match

CLAREMONT, Calif. - In just his freshman season, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps' Jack Katzman (CMC) is heading to the Individual National Championship on Saturday afternoon against Bowdoin's Grant Urken. A pair of three-set victories on Friday, moved the unseeded Katzman into the Championship Match. Katzman's appearance in the Individual Final marks the fifth-straight year that a Stag has appeared in the match.

Katzman earned his way to the final with a pair of tight, three-set victories over fellow freshman, defeating Pomona-Pitzer's Jed Kronenberg in the quarters and Amherst's Sean Wei in the semis. In the quarterfinals, Katzman claimed the opening set 6-3, before his across-the-street rival earned a 6-3 victory of his own  in the second set to fore a decisive third. Katzman got the better of Kronenberg with a 7-5 victory in the final set to advance with a 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 win.

In the semifinals, Katzman dropped the opening set against Sean Wei of Amherst, but rallied to win the next two sets by scores of 6-3 and 6-4 to punch his ticket to Saturday morning's final.

Nikolai Parodi (CMC) was looking to make it an all-CMS Individual Championship, winning his quarterfinal match and advancing to the semifinals. A touch match in the semis went to Bowdoin's Grant Urken after three sets and the Stags' sophomore ended his season as a National Semifinalist.

As he did in both of his matches yesterday, top-seeded Parodi dropped his first set of the quarterfinals to Williams' Brian Grodecki. After falling in the opening set 6-4, Parodi rallied back to earn sets two and three by scores of 6-4 and 7-5 to clinch a spot in the semifinals. Facing Grant Urken from Bowdoin in the semis, Parodi dropped the opening set for the fourth-time in the tournament by a score of 6-4. As he has done all week, the Washington, D.C. native rallied to win the second set 6-4, but the comeback ran out of steam in the third set and Urken clinched a spot in the final with a 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 victory.

Katzmen and Urken will square off in the National Championship Individual Finals at the Biszantz Family Tennis Center on Saturday morning at 10:00 a.m.