Some of the nation’s most elite players took the court last weekend at the ITA National Small College Championships and four of ACU’s very own were there to represent the Wildcat Nation.
Hans Hach and Julia Mongin each competed in the singles divisions while Hannah Kelley and Micah Hermsdorf paired up to take on the doubles division.
The tournament consisted of Division II and III schools with players ranked in the top 5 in the nation.
“This was my second year to play in the tournament and hopefully not my last, I hope to go back again next year. But being a returner helped me feel more comfortable and strong about how I would perform.” Hach said.
Hach has ruled in several Division I tournaments this year and that experience seemed to have assisted in his preparation for this tournament.
“At this level of play it doesn’t matter if you are a Division I athlete or a Division II athlete, everyone there is really good and every game is a competitive one.” Hach said.
After a successful win over BYU-Hawaii, Hach lost narrowly to the No. 3 seeded Concordia and won the last match against Christiaan Lee- Daigle of Queens University to snatch the third place finish.
Julia Mongin returned to the tournament for the second year in a row to bring home another third place finish for the Wildcat Tennis program.
Mongin defeated Ivan of Lynn University in the final game to finish third while the doubles duo of Hannah Kelley and Micah Hermsdorf faced the returning rival of Lynn University.
“We knew it would be a tough match. Lynn has beat us for the past two years in Nationals and this year going in No. 2 they were an even bigger treat. But we played really well and ended up beating them first off so that felt really good.” Hermsdorf said.
The team to beat in every division was BYU- Hawaii and the story was no different for the doubles pair who went 6-2,6-2 in a tough loss for the third place finish.A fourth place finish came after a loss to the No. 4 ranked team in the nation, Lewis University.
“There were really tough teams so I think that it has really helped playing really good teams early on, we have to continue stepping up our competition and that starts early.” Hermsdorf said of the Division I players faced prior to last weekend’s championships.
