Tulane University
Region III Tournament
Koch Advances to Finals at Region III Championships
Oct 19, 2003 | Men's Tennis
Oct. 19, 2003
MEMPHIS, Tenn. - Tulane University junior Dmitiry Koch (Bueckeberg, Germany) will play in the championship match of the ITA Region III Championships on Monday morning at the Racquet Club of Memphis. The 90th-ranked Koch will play Mississippi State's 11th-ranked Romain Ambert at 10 a.m.
Koch, who had three wins entering Sunday action, defeated two more foes to reach the championship match. In his first match on Sunday, he had a hard-fought come-from-behind win over Vanderbilt's Zach Dailey, triumphing, 1-6, 6-4, 6-2.
In the semifinal match, Koch had another battle, holding on for victory over Conference USA rival Luke Walker from Memphis, 7-6, 6-7, 6-3. Walker had defeated Kentucky's Jesse Witten, ranked No. 9 in the nation, in the quarterfinals.
The Southeast Regional is one of nine NCAA Division I men's regionals that will be taking place over the last three weeks of October at campuses throughout the country. The Memphis regional is one of four that took place this weekend.
The 2003 ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships, the tournament this weekend's participants will be trying to qualify for, is the nation's premier collegiate indoor tennis tournament, and is the second of three national championship events for the college tennis season. The first event, the IcyHot/ITA Men's All-American Championships, were held last week at the University of Georgia. The third event is the season-ending NCAA Championships in May. Overall, more than 10,000 players from nearly 600 schools participate annually in the ITA Regional and National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships. The Indoor Championships were inaugurated in 1978. Recent participants include current professionals James Blake, Bob and Mike Bryan and Laura Granville. Veteran pros Todd Martin and Lisa Raymond are also among the past champions.
As the governing body of college tennis, the ITA promotes both athletic and academic achievements of the collegiate tennis community. The ITA, which was founded in 1956 and is based in Skillman, N.J., administers numerous regional and national championships, the ITA Collegiate Summer Circuit, presented by the USTA, and the ITA Collegiate Tennis Rankings for both men's and women's tennis at the NCAA Division I, II and III and NAIA and Junior College levels. The ITA also administers a comprehensive awards program for players and coaches to honor excellence in academics, leadership and sportsmanship.
