ITA Midwest Summer Circuit-Kalamazoo Draw

Nick Tolomei (Rochester, MI/Adams) has been doing everything but resting this summer and his hard work showed off as the junior reached the championship match of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Midwest Summer Circuit at Sorensen Courts in Kalamazoo. 

Tolomei went 5-1 in the three-day event, defeating one of the top eight seeded players in the process. He started the weekend off with a hard-fought 6-3, 1-6, 10-6 win over Kevin Cox from Dartmouth and moved into the round of 16 with a 7-6 (5), 6-4 tally against Western Michigan's Thomas Calderone. 

“I played my best when it counted,” said Tolomei. “In every match that I played three sets, I lost the second so I lost the momentum, but I was able to recover and move on.” 

He then squared off against the No. 8 seed CJ Griffin, a sophomore from Penn State who went 8-5 in his first collegiate season after an undefeated prep career in singles play at Portland High School in Michigan. When the match was over, the Titan netter earned a straight set 6-4, 6-3 triumph over the Big Ten player. 

Tolomei continued his run to the finals defeating Hope College's Andy Phillips, 6-4, 5-7, 10-8, before taking out another in-state opponent in WMU's Ross VanderPloeg, 6-2, 3-6, 10-7, in the semi-finals. In the championship match, Tolomei gave everything he had, but was upended by Dartmouth's Brandon DeBot, 6-4, 6-1. 

“Everyone here is a good player so to be able to defeat not only him (CJ Griffin), but the others will give me great confidence going into the season as I will probably face a lot of these guys again,” added Tolomei. 

Also playing in the singles event was sophomore Alex Latosinsky (Sarnia, ON/St. Christopher's) who won his opening match in dominating fashion, 6-0, 6-0, against Adrian's David Blaker before falling to Grand Valley State's Bryan Hodges, 6-4, 6-3. 

In doubles, former Titan and two-time Horizon League Player of the Year Pjotrs Necajevs (Riga, Latvia/Herdera Vidusskola) reached the finals playing with Hodges of GVSU. The tandem went 4-1 with wins over the third-seeded team of Louisville's Adam Donaldson and Hope's Andy Phillips and the second-seeded squad from Michigan State in Jason Norville and John Stratton, both of whom were also seeded among the top eight in singles. A battle then took place for the title with the match going to a tiebreaker before the top-seeded duo from Western Michigan (Michael and Thomas Calderone) pulled it out, 9-8 (2).