The weekend’s success marks the first time in history that the Stags will send multiple teams to the event.
After four days of matches with competition throughout the Northeast, Fairfield University Men’s Tennis saw two of its doubles teams advances through the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Northeast Regional Championship hosted by Army West Point. The graduate student tandem of Kaya Gore ’22 and Tolunay Sumer as well as the pair of Keean Shah ’24 and Jonathan Olive-Blanco ’23 each moved through the bracket to reach the Super Regional tournament beginning on Oct. 21 at Harvard.
The weekend’s success marks the first time in program history that Fairfield has sent multiple qualifiers to the Super Regional.
"I'm extremely proud of how our guys competed this weekend, said Head Coach Jeff Bricker. “Keean, Kaya, Jon, and Tolunay all had amazing weekends, and for that matter, all seven of our student-athletes who were invited picked up impactful wins and played at a very high level. We are excited to go up to Harvard later this month to continue to challenge ourselves against the best in our region.”
Gore and Sumer earned a bye in the first round of the doubles bracket, then picked up wins over competition from Bryant, Brown and the hosts from West Point to punch their ticket to the Super Regional. Shah and Olive-Blanco needed four victories to get through their portion of the bracket, earning those triumphs against Brown, Harvard, Sacred Heart and LIU.
Gore also paced the squad in the singles bracket, as the two-time MAAC Player of the Year notched a pair of wins before being ousted in the round of 16 – one win away from qualified for the Super Regional.
The Stags’ representatives at West Point also included Sam Hodges ’25, Kostas Kollias ’26, and Will O’Brien ’25, all of whom earned wins during the weekend. Hodges’ stay included an upset win over the bracket’s top-ranked singles player from Boston College.
The ITA Northeast Super Regional Championship begins on Oct. 21 in Cambridge, Mass. The tournament will combine advancing players from the West Point bracket as well as this past weekend’s qualifiers from the Philadelphia bracket. The winners will earn an invitation to the ITA National Fall Championship from Nov. 2-6 in San Diego.
