Heller and Peretz Compete at ITA Summer Nationals
8/18/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Juniors Ryan Heller (Northbrook, Ill./Glenbrook North HS) and Steve Peretz (Brooklyn, N.Y./The Dwight School) of the University of Michigan men's tennis team traveled to the Indiana University campus to compete in the 2005 ITA National Summer Championships, held Aug. 13-16 at the IU Varsity Tennis Center. Heller and Peretz both participated in the 128-player singles draw and paired together in the 32-team doubles bracket.
Heller, the ninth seed in the singles draw, drew a first-round bye and then advanced to the round of 32 after defeating Western Michigan's RK Bacalla, 6-3, 6-0. Heller moved on to the round of 16 with a 6-2, 6-3 triumph over North Carolina State's Mason Schermerhorn but was eliminated with a 7-5, 7-5 loss to fifth-seeded Brett McKeon of Cornell.
Peretz, who also drew a bye in the opening round, posted a 6-4, 6-0 victory over 17th-seeded Andy Sobczyk of Furman. Peretz nearly joined Heller in the round of 16, but ninth seed and eventual champion Eric Langenkamp of Notre Dame squeezed by with a 6-1, 5-7, 1-0(6) win.
Heller and Peretz, the fourth seed in the doubles bracket, drew a first-round bye before tallying an easy 8-3 victory over Ohio State's Dominic Ozanne and IUPUI's Ross Gelhausen. The Wolverine tandem then advanced to the semifinals after outlasting Jarrod and Joseph Epkey of Ball State by a 9-7 margin. Heller and Peretz's run at the title ended with an 8-2 loss to top seed and eventual champion Drew Eberly and Chris Klingemann of Ohio State.
The ITA National Summer Championships, presented by the United States Tennis Association (USTA), are the pinnacle of the ITA Collegiate Summer Circuit, which was played at 23 regional sites throughout the country last month. The singles and doubles champions from this week's championships earned wild cards into the first national tournaments of the 2005-06 collegiate tennis season -- the Polo Ralph Lauren Men's All-American Championships in Tulsa, Okla., and Riviera/ITA Women's All-American Championships in Pacific Palisades, Calif., Oct. 6-9 (the finalists earned wild cards into the qualifying tournaments).
Heller and Peretz, who earned the doubles gold medal together at the 17th Maccabiah Games last month, are two of four returning letterwinners for Michigan in 2005-06. In their first two years at U-M, they have combined for 72 singles victories and 53 doubles wins.
Contact: Marc Ressler (734) 763-4423
Players Mentioned
