Parodi, Katzman to Square Off in All-CMS Men's Tennis Singles Final at ITA Regionals

CLAREMONT, Calif. - After coming into the day with seven of the eight quarterfinalists in the ITA West Regionals, the CMS men's tennis team now has senior Nikolai Parodi and junior Jack Katzman, the tournament's top two seeds, facing off against each other in the finals tomorrow afternoon at the Biszantz Family Tennis Center.

Katzman was the only member of the Stags playing today against a non-teammate in the ITA quarterfinals and he had a tough battle from James Wei of Caltech, falling 7-5 in the first set. Katzman regrouped, though, and took the second and third sets by the same 6-2, 6-2 score to win in three and make it an All-CMS semifinal round. 

Katzman then went three rounds again in the semifinals against first-year Ian Freer, with Katzman taking the first set 8-6 in a tiebreaker, before Freer came back to win the second set 6-2. Katzman, playing his sixth set of the day, finished off his second three-setter with a 6-1 win to earn his way into the finals. 

Casey Morris, who upset third-seed Varun Shanker of Caltech in the opening round to reach today's quarterfinals, was ousted in a tight three-set battle with teammate Daniel Park, as Park came away with a 7-6, 5-7, 6-4 win. Park then fell to Parodi 6-3, 7-5, after Parodi defeated Robert Liu in the quarterfinals. 

Regardless of who wins the final, Parodi and Katzman will both now travel to the ITA Cup in Rome, Georgia in two weeks due to the new expanded format. In the past, only the regional champions advanced, but now the top two finishers earn trips to the nationals in a 16-player field. 

Unlike singles, CMS ran into some roadblocks in the doubles competition, with only Katzman and Liu still alive in tomorrow's semifinal round. The duo advanced with a win over teammates Morris and Jake Berber and will now take on the top-seeded team from Redlands of Bradley Cummins and Brysl Libao, who advanced with an 8-5 win over Park and Nic Meister. Freer and Parodi fell 8-7 (9-7) in the tiebreaker to Jansen Comadena and Mukund Madabhushi of Pomona-Pitzer. 

Ethan Carroll advanced to the finals of the B Flight in singles with a pair of wins on Saturday, while Berber advanced to the semifinals of the C Flight with a 6-2, 6-4 win on Saturday. 

Katzman and Liu will get things started tomorrow with their 9 a.m. doubles semifinal, before Katzman and Parodi face off in the singles final at 11 a.m.