UNCG men’s tennis players have success on ITA Summer Circuit

GREENSBORO, NC – UNC Greensboro men’s tennis players Taylor Befus, Arsel Kumdereli and William John competed for the second consecutive weekend at the ITA Summer Circuit event hosted by UNC Greensboro July 27-30.

In singles action, Kumdereli, who made a run to the men’s open finals after reaching the round of 16 in Chapel Hill a week ago, went even further by reaching the final. The Mersin, Turkey native, tallied two straight set victories, defeating Jordan Moser, 6-0, 6-3 and Ryan Daly, 6-1, 6-2. He also rallied from one set down to knock off the No. 12 seed Jamieson Cox 5-7, 7-6(4), 1-0(7).

The rising sophomore reached the round of 16 after Othmene Garma retired with an injury in the second set in their fourth round match. In the quarterfinals against top-seeded Jamie Hunt, Kumderali rallied after being down 1-6 in the first set to take the second set 6-3 but Hunt retired in the third set tiebreak with Kumderali leading 9-4.

He reached the final with a 7-5, 5-4 win over Ryan Smith in the semifinals but was bested 6-2, 6-0 in the final by 10th seed Mark Brodie.

Befus finished the weekend with a 2-1 record after falling to Brian Garber 6-2, 6-4 in the round of 64 in the main draw. He advanced to the third round in the consolation bracket by defeating Nebyu Retta 7-5, 6-0 but then lost to Taylor Meyer 6-4, 6-4.

John, who advanced to the round of 16 in the event in Chapel Hill last week, made it to the round of 32 after defeating Luke Whiteside, 6-3, 6-1 and Michael Schecter, 6-1, 6-4. The Mt. Airey, NC native lost out on a bid to the round of 16 falling to Paul Bartholomy 6-1, 6-3. 

In doubles action, John and Kumdereli combined to reach the semifinals. The duo defeated Andre Merg and Luke Whiteside, 8-2 in the round of 32 and also defeated Milo Barajas-Alexander and Nebyu Retta, 8-2 before falling to second seeds Marius Adamski and Ted Kelly,8-4, in the semifinal.

Befus coupled with David Lupinetti for doubles action. The pair fell in the round of 32 in a close match to James Moye and David Patrick, 8-6.

The ITA Summer Circuit provides college and junior players the opportunity to compete in organized events throughout the summer. It is made up of six regional circuits, East, Southeast, Midwest, Central, Southwest and West, and each region consists of four consecutive open tournaments played during the month of July, leading up to the August 11-15 ITA National Summer Championships in Bloomington, Indiana.

- UNCG -