Pucalka/Maggs advance to Round of 16, Kakhniuk to semis
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — On the longest day of tennis yet at the ITA Mountain Regionals hosted by The University of New Mexico, Lobo Daniil Kakhniuk won again to move to the Lobo Draw semifinals will 4th-seeded doubles team Jan Pucalka and Alex Maggs moved into the Round of 16 to highlight Lobo action on the day.
In doubles, Pucalka and Maggs were the lone Lobo doubles pairing to advance to the Round of 16, winning 8-2 over Anish Sriniketh and Mitchell Johnson of Denver. They will now face off with New Mexico State’s Corey Clarke and Roko Stipetic at approximately 9:30 am at McKinnon Family Tennis Stadium.
UNM’s other two doubles teams fell as No. 6 seeded Rafael Abdulsalam and Georgio Samaha lost to Montana State’s Jacob Huppin and Maximillian Relic 8-6 while unseeded Kakhniuk and Aram Noroozian lost 8-6 to NAU’s Dominic Buzonics and Alexander Groves.
Kakhniuk played late in his quarterfinal match at McKinnon in the Lobo Draw (Flight B), and he was victorious with a 4-6, 6-4, 6-0 win over NAU’s Maciej Zoimber, who was the No. 2 seed. Kakhniuk will face off with another Lumberjack in Piotr Galus, the No. 3 seed. That match will be approximately 11:15 am at McKinnon.
UNM’s foursome in the Round of 32 split, with wins by Aram Noroozian and Rafael Abdulsalam. Noroozian topped 15th-seeded Anish Sriniketh 7-6 (7-2), 6-1 to move to the Round of 16, but he fell there in a great match, taking the tournament’s top seed, Utah’s Franco Capalbo to the limit, 5-7, 6-3, 6-2.
Abdulsalam also beat a seeded player in No. 15 Francisco Gay of Idaho, winning 6-3, 7-6 (7-4). He moved on to face No. 7 Simon Arca Costas of Boise State, and lost 6-2, 6-1.
Pucalka lost to No. 3 Nicolas Herrera Cuesta of Denver 6-1, 6-4 and Samaha lost to No. 10 Sebastian Buxman of Weber State 6-3, 5-7, 4-6.