Co-Lin tennis team has great outing at Regional ITA Tournament

MERIDIAN, Miss. – The Copiah-Lincoln Community College netters started the fall season with a great showing at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Regional Tournament. The Wolves claimed the singles championship and the doubles championship, and several players make it to later rounds in the tournament.

Co-Lin's No. 1 singles player, Sebastian Osorio, had a great outing. He entered the tournament as the No. 2 seed and cruised to the quarterfinals. In the quarters he defeated Austin Vos of Gulf Coast 6-0, 7-5, in the semis the Bogota, Colombia native defeated Meridian's Lachlan Ivulich 6-3, 7-6, and in the championship Osorio faced his own doubles partner Juan Pinilla 6-0, 6-4.

Pinilla, Co-Lin's No. 2 player and No. 4 seed in the tournament, also blew passed the early competition. In the semifinals Pinilla faced Travis Bell of Gulf Coast. Bell entered the ITA Regional as the No. 1 seed. Pinilla outlasted the Bulldog with a final score of 6-1, 7-6.

Tripp Wyatt defeated Drew Rexrode of Hinds in a marathon match 2-6, 7-5, 6-4, but fell to Gulf Coast's Noah Rowell in the second round.

Co-Lin's Tripp Case also fell in the second round as the No. 8 seeded Marko Puric defeated Case. Case blanked ICC's Brody Clayton 6-0, 6-0 in the first round.

Drew Nelson fell to Michael Phillips of Meridian in the opening round, and lost to ICC's Roberto Valadez, 8-3, in the Consolation quarterfinals.

In doubles action Osorio and Pinilla cruised to the finals after dropping just eight games. The pair defeated Meridian's Will Swindoll and Ivulich 6-3, 6-0 in the championship round.

Case and Braden Ishee lost to Hinds 8-2 in the opening round, but battled back in the consolation bracket. The duo fell to Meridian's Ethan Clopton and Max Mauney 8-3 in the consolation finals.

Co-Lin's Wyatt and Nelson fell in the opening round, defeated ICC in the consolation quarterfinals, but lost in the semifinals to Co-Lin's Case and Ishee.

"I was extremely pleased with the ITA Tournament this year…everyone contributed and it was a team effort," said Co-Lin men's tennis head coach Blake Smith. "For the second year in row, Juan Pablo defeated the No. 1 seed in the singles draw. Sebastian was runner up last year, but took the title this season, and they were also extremely dominant in the doubles competition.

"I was also impressed with our freshman, this tournament is always a good measuring stick for our growth and also to see the depth of the teams this year."

With their wins in both singles and doubles Juan Pablo Pinilla and Sebastian Osorio qualify for the 2017 ITA Fall Oracle Cup at Berry College in Rome, Ga. on October 12-15.