Shane and Kwiatkowski Advance in NCAA Singles Championship

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May 20, 2015

WACO, Texas – Three members of the NCAA Champion Virginia men’s tennis team returned to action Wednesday as the NCAA Singles Championship began at the Hurd Tennis Center. Ryan Shane (Falls Church, Va.) and Thai-Son Kwiatkowski (Charlotte, N.C.) both won their first round matches, while Mitchell Frank (Annandale, Va.) suffered a first round loss.

Shane, the tournament’s No 8 seed, reached the round of 32 for the second consecutive year with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Mikael Torpegaard of Ohio State. The first set was tied at 3-3 before Shane won the final three games to take a one-set lead. The second set was on serve until Shane broke Torpegaard to take a 5-3 lead. He served out the victory in the ensuing game to advance to the second round. He will play Benjamin Lock of Florida State on Thursday.

Kwiatkowski won his NCAA singles debut with a 6-4, 6-0 win over No. 9-16 seed Gonzales Austin of Vanderbilt. After the players traded breaks early in the first set, the match was tied at 4-4. Kwiatkowski then proceeded to roll off eight straight games to post the straight-set victory. He will play Denis Nguyen of Harvard in the second round.

Frank concluded his Cavalier career with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 loss to Max Tchoutakian of Baylor. He used a late service break to claim the first set before Tchoutakian did the same in the second set to force a decisive third set. The final set was tied at 2-2 before Tchoutakian won the final four games to close out the match. A two-time ITA All-American, Frank won 99 singles matches during his Virginia career, including the clinching points of both the 2013 and 2015 NCAA finals.

In addition to the second round of singles, the doubles tournament will begin on Thursday with one Cavalier team in action. The third-seeded pair of Shane and Luca Corinteli (Alexandria, Va.) will play Harry Jadun and John Patrick Mullane of Michigan State in the first round.