Former Spartans Make Splash At World's Largest Tennis Tournament
7/27/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
July 27, 2008
MOBILE, Ala. - Already the winningest coach in the USC Upstate women's program's history and currently holding the highest coaching winning percentage in the men's program's history, head coach Alessandro De Marzo went back to the hard courts this weekend and captained his South Carolina B team, featuring two former USC Upstate All-Americans in Stefan Dumitrescu and Jose Luis Reyes, to the 5.5-division title at the USTA Southern Sectionals on Sunday at the Mobile Tennis Center.
The Southern Sectionals, which is billed as the largest tennis tournament in the world with more than 2,000 participants, is part of the USTA League recreational tennis program, which brings nearly 300,000 participants to the tennis courts each year. For winning the 5.5-division bracket, De Marzo, along with 2003 Division II Singles All-American Reyes and 2006 and 2007 Division II Singles All-American Dumitescu and 2008 USC Aiken graduate Nick Lombardo and Aiken senior Edward Horne will now advance to the USTA League National Tournaments in Las Vegas, Nev., from Sept. 26-28 at the Darling Tennis Center.
Earning a wild card berth to the tournament, the quartet was able to win the 5.5 division, the second-most competitive bracket in the tournament. According to the USTA, the 5.5 classification is listed as players that "have mastered power and/or consistency as a major weapon. They can vary strategies and styles of play in a competitive situation and hit dependable shots in a stress situation." Players recommended for the bracket include Division I players ranked in the top 75 as a team or player under the age of 30 and futures circuit players ranked over No. 400 in the world under the age of 35. The 5.5 teams play two three-set doubles matches and one three-set singles match, with the first team to earn three points winning the match.
The trio of Spartans and the Pacer duo were able to win the round-robin style tournament, beating a South Carolina A team twice from Charleston, S.C., that won the national tournament in the open division, the lone classification tougher than 5.5, in 2007. De Marzo's crew posted a 3-0 win over the South Carolina A team and added a 2-1 win over a Mississippi team in the first day of play.
In Sunday's bracket-clinching win against the South Carolina A team, De Marzo and Reyes fought off four-match points to win the No. 1 doubles match 8-6 in a super-set format after rain forced the matches to a shorter format. Dumitrescu also added an 8-3 win to help clinch the win and send them to the national tournament.
"It felt good to play with a player I played with for a couple years and to play with someone I coached for three years," De Marzo said. "It felt like I was back in college!"
