Rodriguez Falls In Three Sets In D'Novo ITA All-American Qualifying Singles Match
10/5/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Oct. 5, 2009
TULSA, Okla. - Sophomore Edgar Rodriguez put up a valiant effort against 66th-ranked Achim Ceban of San Diego State, taking the All-Mountain West Conference performer to three sets before falling, 0-6, 6-3, 6-2, in the first round of qualifying singles play at the D'Novo/ITA All-American Championships at the University of Tulsa's Michael D. Case Tennis Center on Monday afternoon.
Rodriguez, who won his first two matches in the pre-qualifying singles bracket, played his fourth match in three days against Ceban, and nearly pulled off an upset against the 18th-seeded Aztec, winning the first six games of the match to take the first set. However, Ceban, the 2007 Mountain West Conference Freshman of the Year, recovered to take the second set, 6-3, setting up the third set showdown.
With Rodriguez, the 2008 Atlantic Sun Conference Freshman of the Year, first to serve in the third set, Ceban was able to control the opening game even though Rodriguez spoiled four break points before Ceban finally was able to take the game. Ceban then quickly won the second game before Rodriguez closed within 2-1 with a quick win in the third game. The two then traded wins on their serve to make it, 3-2. From there, Ceban was able to rally and take the last three games thanks to his strong serve and solid ground play.
Rodriguez started his run with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Oral Roberts' Matt Tansil on Saturday before beating Sacramento State's Jimmy Roberts, 6-1, 6-1, on Sunday morning to advance to the pre-qualifier finals, where he fell in a super-set tiebreaker to New Mexico's Carl Ho, 4-6, 6-1, 10-4. He advanced to the qualifiers via "lucky loser" thanks to his strong No. 8 seed in the pre-qualifier. Rodriguez was the first Upstate player to ever reach the qualifiers at the prestigious event and also set a school record with his two wins, along with senior Javier Tori, at the event.
Tori and fellow senior Jack Roux will begin play in the doubles qualifier on Tuesday, needing to win three matches to reach the 32-team main draw, which starts on Thursday. The Spartan duo will need to win two matches on Tuesday and one on Wednesday to reach the main draw.
