The Maroons placed fourth after playing in three matches during the UAA Championships in Florida this weekend. The Maroons went 1–2 in the eight-team tournament, facing the University of Rochester, Wash U, and Carnegie Mellon. The Maroons blew past Rochester in the quarterfinal match, coming out with a 9–0 finish over the Yellowjackets.
The semifinal match had a different outcome as UChicago faced nationally seventh-ranked Wash U. The Maroons entered the weekend as the No. 2 seed while Wash U was seeded as third. UChicago lost after a series of long matches and tiebreakers by a match score of 5–3.
Two of the three doubles matches went to a tiebreaker, one resulting in a win for UChicago from second-years Nicolas Chua and David Liu, while the other tiebreaker resulted in a loss for the Maroons. Four out of the six singles matches went into three-sets. Two of the three-set matches went to Wash U, one resulted in a win for Chicago, and another was declared unfinished at the No. 1 spot. Because of the loss, UChicago was set to play Carnegie Mellon for the third-place match.
UChicago lost to nationally eighth-ranked Carnegie Mellon by a match score of 5–4 for a fourth-place finish on the weekend. Carnegie Mellon came in as the fifth seed for the weekend. The Maroon men won two singles matches and two doubles matches.
Liu commented on the competition of the weekend that resulted in their fourth-place finish:
“Wash U and Carnegie were just a little tougher, and a little better than us this weekend. In reality, the matches were even closer than the scores suggest—in a couple matches, we were literally only one or two points away from a win that would’ve caused the whole match to go the other way. But, that’s no excuse and we have to give credit to Wash and Carnegie for playing some great tennis,” he said.
Liu believes that this past weekend will assist in smarter play for the NCAA Championships.
“As of now, we’re hoping the NCAA committee sees our potential and lets us into the tournament. If we get in, we’ll be focusing on fitness and playing the important points smarter because that’s what will make the difference in close matches,” he said.
If the Maroons receive a bid for the National Tournament, it will take place May 13–15 (the location and time are TBD).
