Men's Tennis: Cempre and Hobrath pace Big Red at ITA Central Regional

The Denison men's tennis team took part in the annual ITA Central Regional hosted by Washington University (Mo.) this weekend in St. Louis.  The Big Red were led by the team of junior Nate Hobrath (Strongsville, Ohio/Walsh Jesuit) and sophomore Tyler Cempre (Worthington, Ohio/Thomas Worthington), who will play in the semifinals of the doubles tournament.

After winning their opening two matches by scores of 8-1 and 8-4, the DU duo was pushed to the limit by teammates Jared Connolly and Tim Martin before edging them 9-7.  In the quarterfinals, Hobrath and Cempre defeated the pairing of Kareem Farah and John Watts of Washington, 8-6 to reach the semifinals where they will face off against DePauw's Will Gates and Scott Sandanger.

Hobrath, Cempre and junior Evan Verbofsky (Pittsburgh, Pa./Fox Chapel Area) all had success individually as they reached the championship draw in the singles tournament.  Both Hobrath and Verbofsky reached the round of 16 before falling to opponent from North Coast Athletic Conference rival Kenyon.  Hobrath dropped a competitive match to the Lords' Jeremy Polster (6-4, 6-4), while Verbofsky suffered a 6-3, 7-6 setback to Tomas Piskacek.  Cempre reached the round of 32 where he was upended by DePauw's Eric Hubbard 7-6, 4-6, 7-5.

Additionally, sophomore Jack Adam (Kettering, Ohio/Miami Valley) defeated Wabash's Billy Evans to capture the St. Louis Collegiate Consolation Singles Draw title.

Singles Draw 1
Matt McErlean
- def. Sean Carr (CWRU), 6-3, 6-7, 7-6
- lost to Troy Brinker (Chicago), 6-2, 3-6, 6-2
Tom Cawood
- lost to Scott Sandager (DePauw), 6-4, 6-1

Singles Draw 2
Tyler Cempre
- def. Michawl Garland (Hope), 6-2, 6-2
- def. Chris Paterakos (Lake Forest), 6-4, 6-2
- lost to Eric Hubbard (DePauw), 7-6, 4-6, 7-5

Singles Draw 3
Jared Connolly
- def. Ben Miller (Albion), 6-2, 6-1
- lost to Andrew Kahn (DePauw), 6-2, 7-5
Evan Verbofsky
- def. Nick Howe (CWRU), 6-2, 6-4
- def. Andrew Rescorla (Calvin), 6-3, 3-6, 7-5
- def. Jan Stefanksi (Chicago), 6-7, 7-5, 6-2
- lost to Tomas Piskacek (Kenyon), 6-3, 7-6

Singles Draw 4
Tim Martin
- lost to Jeremy Polster (Kenyon), 6-2, 6-1
Nate Hobrath
- def. Matt Boguslawski (North Central), 6-2, 6-1
- def. Jonathan Batuello (DePauw), 7-6, 6-1
- def. Kaneem Farah (Wash.), 6-2, 6-1
- lost to Jeremy Polster (Kenyon), 6-4, 6-4

Singles Consolation Draw 1
Tom Cawood
- def. Brent Parshall (Albion), 6-1, 6-1
- BYE
- lost to Evan Hunter (DePauw), 6-2, 5-7, 1-0 (8)

Singles Consolation Draw 2
Tim Martin
- def. Jon Luntz (Hope), 7-5, 6-3
- BYE
- lost to David Zhu (Wash), 7-6, 6-4

St. Louis Collegiate Singles Draw
Jack Adam
- lost to Reid Garlock (DePauw), 6-2, 6-0

St. Louis Collegiate Singles Consolation Draw
Jack Adam
- BYE
- def. Evan Bayless (Wabash), 6-0, 6-2
- def. Cameron Huber (Principia), 6-2, 6-1
- def. Chris Brown (Albion), 4-3 retire (injury)
- def. Eric Mutka (North Central), 6-1, 6-1
- def. Billy Evans (wabash), 6-2, 6-2

Doubles Draw
Jack Adam-Evan Verbofsky
- lost to Cameron Chiang-Seth Sankary (Wash), 8-5
Tom Cawood-Matt McErlean
- def. Joey Frank-Nick Kowalczyk (ONU), 8-2
- lost to Kareem Farah-John Watts (Wash), 9-7
Jared Connolly-Tim Martin
- def. Ben Miller-Brent Parshall (Albion), 8-5
- def. Alex Dombos-John Reinertsen (Kalamazoo), 8-5
- lost to Tyler Cempre-Nate Hobrath (Denison), 9-7
Tyler Cemptre-Nate Hobrath
- def. Jon Flaksman-ElliottMuth (Lake Forest), 8-1
- def. Jon Batuello-Evan Hunter (DePauw), 8-4
- def. Connolly-Martin (Den), 9-7
- def. Kareem Farah-John Watts (Wash), 8-6

Doubles Consolation Draw
Jack Adam-Evan Verbofsky
- def. Tyler Lampe-Chris Utterback (Monmouth), 8-3
- BYE
- lost to Chris Atallah-Chris Brown (Albion), 8-2