Rinky Hijikata
Three Tar Heels Earn All-Tournament Honors At ITA Indoor Nationals
February 20, 2020 | Men's Tennis
CHAPEL HILL—Three University of North Carolina men's tennis players earned recognition on the ITA Division I National Men's Team Indoor All-Tournament Team after the Tar Heels finished second at the event on Monday in Madison, Wisc.
Senior William Blumberg grabbed a spot at No. 1 singles and freshman Rinky Hijikata earned recognition at No. 3 singles. Hijikata and junior Benjamin Sigouin were honored at No. 3 doubles.
Blumberg went 3-0 at No. 1 singles to lead the Tar Heels to their second-place finish, beating opponents from South Carolina, Florida and USC. Hijikata went 2-0 with wins over foes from Florida and top-ranked Ohio State, along with two unfinished matches. Hijikata and Sigouin posted a 3-0 mark with wins in matches against South Carolina, Florida and USC.
This is the 13th annual ITA Division I National Men's Team Indoor All-Tournament Team. The voting panel is comprised of the 16 participating team head coaches.
Past winners of the Most Outstanding Player award are Virginia's Somdev Devvarman (2008); Virginia's Sanam Singh (2009); Virginia's Michael Shabaz (2010); Virginia's Alex Domijan (2011); USC's Steve Johnson (2012); Virginia's Alex Domijan (2013); Ohio State's Peter Kobelt (2014); Oklahoma's Alex Ghilea (2015), North Carolina's Ronnie Schneider (2016), Ohio State's Mikael Torpegaard (2017), Wake Forest's Petros Chrysochos (2018), Ohio State's JJ Wolf (2019).
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Senior William Blumberg grabbed a spot at No. 1 singles and freshman Rinky Hijikata earned recognition at No. 3 singles. Hijikata and junior Benjamin Sigouin were honored at No. 3 doubles.
Blumberg went 3-0 at No. 1 singles to lead the Tar Heels to their second-place finish, beating opponents from South Carolina, Florida and USC. Hijikata went 2-0 with wins over foes from Florida and top-ranked Ohio State, along with two unfinished matches. Hijikata and Sigouin posted a 3-0 mark with wins in matches against South Carolina, Florida and USC.
This is the 13th annual ITA Division I National Men's Team Indoor All-Tournament Team. The voting panel is comprised of the 16 participating team head coaches.
Past winners of the Most Outstanding Player award are Virginia's Somdev Devvarman (2008); Virginia's Sanam Singh (2009); Virginia's Michael Shabaz (2010); Virginia's Alex Domijan (2011); USC's Steve Johnson (2012); Virginia's Alex Domijan (2013); Ohio State's Peter Kobelt (2014); Oklahoma's Alex Ghilea (2015), North Carolina's Ronnie Schneider (2016), Ohio State's Mikael Torpegaard (2017), Wake Forest's Petros Chrysochos (2018), Ohio State's JJ Wolf (2019).
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No. 1 Singles | William Blumberg | UNC | 3-0
def. Paul Jubb, South Carolina 6-2, 3-6, 6-3
def. Oliver Crawford, Florida 6-2, 6-3
DNF John McNally, Ohio State 6-2, 1-6, 1-2
def. Brandon Holt, USC 6-0, ret.
No. 2 Singles | Daniel Cukierman | USC | 4-0
def. Luc Fomba, TCU 7-5, 4-6, 6-1
def. Axel Geller, Stanford 6-2, 6-1
def. Ondrej Styler, Michigan 1-6, 7-6, 7-6(2)
def. Benjamin Sigouin, North Carolina 6-2, 6-1
No. 3 Singles | Rinky Hijikata | UNCÂ |Â 2-0
DNF Daniel Rodrigues, South Carolina 6-4, 2-6, 4-1
def. Duarte Vale, Florida 6-4, 6-4
def. Justin Boulais, Ohio State 6-2, 6-2
DNF Riley Smith, USC 7-6(2), 2-3
No. 4 Singles | Mor Bulis | USC | 3-1
def. Jacob Fearnley, TCU 4-6, 6-4, 6-1
def. Sangeet Sridhar, Stanford 6-1, 6-2
loss Connor Johnston, Michigan 3-6, 4-6
def. Josh Peck, North Carolina 6-3, 6-1
No. 5 Singles | Stefan Dostanic | USCÂ |Â 3-0
def. Bertus Kruger, TCU 6-1, 6-3
DNF Timothy Sah, Stanford 6-3, 3-6, 4-1
def. Nick Beaty, Michigan 2-6, 6-4, 6-3
def. Brian Cernoch, North Carolina 6-1, 6-4
No. 6 Singles | Cleeve Harper | Texas | 3-0
def. Eric Hahn, UCLA 6-2, 6-3
def. Ryan Fu, Michigan 7-6(1), 6-1
def. Kento Perera, Stanford 6-4, 6-2
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No. 1 Doubles | Daniel Cukierman and Riley Smith | USCÂ |Â 4-0
def. Alastair Gray/Jacob Fearnley, TCU 6-4
def. Axel Geller/Neel Rajesh, Stanford 6-3
def. Andrew Fenty/Mattias Siimar, Michigan 6-4
def. William Blumberg/Brian Cernoch, North Carolina 7-6(5)
No. 2 Doubles | Jacob Bullard and Elliot Spizzirri | Texas | 2-0
def. Andrew Fenty/Nick Beaty, Michigan 7-6(6)
def. Sangeet Sridhar/Timothy Sah, Stanford 7-6(4)
No. 3 Doubles | Rinky Hijikata and Benjamin Sigouin | UNCÂ |Â 3-0
def. Beau Pelletier/Phillip Jordan, South Carolina 6-1
def. Duarte Vale/Joshua Goodger, Florida 6-0
DNF Cannon Kingsley/Kyle Seelig, Ohio State 5-4
def. Stefan Dostanic/Bradley Frye, USC 6-2
Most Outstanding Player | Daniel Cukierman | USCÂ
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Players Mentioned
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