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7/26/2005 Of the 64 men and 64 women who gathered in Columbus, Ohio for a USTA event July 16-20, it was two Commodores who were left standing. Sophomores Ryan Preston (Northbrook, Ill.) and Amanda Taylor (Richland, Wash.) each won the Midwest regional of the National Hard Courts Championships of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Collegiate Summer Circuit, presented by the USTA. Vanderbilt sophomore Ryan Preston put a very nice notch in his belt when he survived a field of 64 in the Midwest Regional of the USTA/ITA National Hard Courts Championship, part of the summer ITA’s Collegiate Summer Circuit. Preston, the No. 2 seed, defeated No. 3 Eric Langenkamp, a senior at Notre Dame, in two sets 6-2, 7-6(5). In one game, Preston fired off four consecutive service aces — winning a game without his opponent even touching the ball — something that Tournament Director Harvey Beahm said he had not seen since players with names like Roddick and Agassi competed in the event years ago. Preston hit the ground running as he started the tournament by losing only one game in his first two matches, defeating Alan McCausland 6-0, 6-0 and Kyle Webb 6-1, 6-0. He then took out Western Michigan’s Alejandro Staub 6-4, 6-2 to reach the quarterfinals. There he faced the No. 9 seed Jarrod Epkey of Ball State, the only player to take a set from Preston during the tournament. Preston recovered to win in the match tie-breaker, winning 6-2, 4-6, 10-4. In the semifinals he defeated the No. 5 seed, Northwestern’s Jamie Friedland, 6-2, 7-5, to set up his bout with Langenkamp. Last season with Vanderbilt Preston went 18-5, the best record on the team, playing most of his matches in positions No. 4 and No. 5. The ITA National Summer Championships will be held July 30-Aug. 2 at the Indiana University Outdoor Varsity Courts in Bloomington, Ind. |
