Freshman makes final four at USTA regional meet
Alex Cauneac ’19 of the MIT men’s tennis team made it all the way to the final four, before bowing out to Bowdoin College freshman Luke Tercek, 6-0, 6-2, in the semifinals of the USTA/ITA New England Regional Tournament which was held at Williams College over the weekend.
With his outstanding effort throughout the three day tournament, Cauneac ’19 became the first member of the MIT men’s tennis team to make it to the semifinals as a singles player since Evan Tindell ’06 did it in back-to-back seasons. Tindell won the ITA New England championship in the fall of 2003 and was the runner-up the following season.
Cauneac ’19 started the weekend off on a positive note for the Engineers with a 6-1, 6-2 win over James Smith of Nichols College in the opening round of the tournament on Friday afternoon. In the round of 16, Cauneac ’19 defeated Fergus Scott of Bates College, 7-5, 6-4, while in the “Elite Eight” Cauneac ’19 took down Rohan Gupte, who was a 9-16 seed, from Tufts University in three sets, 6-1, 3-6, 6-4.
In doubles action, Tyler Barr ’19 and Cauneac ’19 teamed up for an 8-3 opening round win over the Amherst College duo of senior Russell Einbinder and freshman Jon Heidenberg. Unfortunately, the Engineers ran into the Middlebury College pairing of De Quant and the 2015 ITA Singles Champion senior Allen Jackson, falling by a margin of 8-4.
MIT hosts its own Invitational Tournament this coming weekend.