NORFOLK, Va. – Sophomore Connor van Schalkwyk completed a run to the ITA Atlantic Regional Men’s Tennis Championship on Monday with a 6-4, 6-3 win over 20th-ranked Dylan Dietrich of Virginia at the Folkes-Stevens Tennis Center.
With the win, he became the first singles champion from ODU since Francois Le Tallec won in 2021, ironically the last time ODU hosted the regional. He is now qualified for the NCAA Individual Championships in Waco, Texas from Nov. 19-24.
“We have won this tournament before, but depth-wise this was arguably the best collective results we ever had. With four players in the last eight and two in the last four, we showed that we have depth. Every player had some great wins throughout this weekend and for Connor to finish it like this was special. I’m happy for him to go to the NCAA Singles championship and these results will allow some other players to play Sectionals in November for another shot to qualify. I couldn’t have asked for a better weekend,” said ODU Head Coach Dominik Mueller.
The championship match saw van Schalkwyk, ranked 85th nationally, break Dietrich in the third game for an early 2-1 advantage. Dietrich returned that break in game six to get back even at 3-3. Van Schalkwyk responded with a break at love in game seven and won game eight to take a 5-3 lead en route to the 6-4 first set.
Set two started with a trade of breaks and Dietrich held serve in game three to take a 2-1 lead. Van Schalkwyk then ripped off the next three games to take a 4-2 lead and won the final game breaking Dietrich at deuce.
In the semifinals, van Schalkwyk locked up his bid to the NCAA’s with a 6-2, 6-2 win over teammate Cosme Rolland de Ravel. Dietrich, the top seed in the tournament, defeated Jake Fellows of Georgetown 6-1, 7-5 to lock up his bid to the NCAA’s. Rolland de Ravel took third via walkover.
Doubles saw the tandem of Joaquim Almeida and Siwanat Auytayakul of Liberty defeat Matt Harper and Albert Orso of Virginia Tech 6-3, 6-4 to claim the title and NCAA automatic bid.
“What a weekend for our program and our school. How often do you have the best of the best from our Region on campus to play for a spot at the NCAA tournament. Thanks to our athletic department for supporting this bid and making it a fantastic experience for our visiting teams and our student-athletes,” Mueller added.
Click here for tournament webpage.
ODU is back in action November 1-3 at the Virginia Tech Dynamic Duals.
ODU Results
Qualifying Rd. 1 - Def. Tadej Mihajlovic (Hampton) 6-0, 6-3
Qualifying Rd. 2 - Def. Dennis Wiebe (JMU) 7-6 (7-5), 4-6, 6-4
Rd. 64 - Def. Ryan Morgan (Va. Tech) 6-3, 6-3
Rd. 32 - lost to Mans Dahlberg (Virginia) 4-6, 7-5, 7-5
Rd. 64 - Lost to Ty Switzer (Virginia) 5-7, 6-2, 7-6 (7-4)
Consolation - Def. Nathan Nguyen (Navy) 6-3, 6-1
Rd. 64 - Def. Mikeal Carpenter (Morgan State) 7-6 (7-3), 6-4
Rd. 32 - Def. Ilyas Milad Fahim (Va. Tech) 6-1, 4-6, 6-1
Rd. 16 - Lost to Dylan Dietrich (Virginia) 6-4, 6-3
Rd. 64 - Def. Albert Hansen (W&M) 6-4, 6-3
Rd. 32 - Def. Ernst Gouws (Liberty) 6-7 (5-7), 6-0, 6-4
Rd. 16 - Def. Siwanat Auytaykul (Liberty) 6-1, 1-6, 6-2
Quarterfinals - Lost to Dylan Dietrich (Virginia) 6-0, 6-4
Rd. 64 - Def. Tom Saporta (Radford) 6-1, 6-3
Rd. 32 - Def. Carl Roothman (Liberty) 6-2, 6-4
Rd. 16 - Def. Alfred Almasi (VCU) 6-2, 6-3
Quarterfinals - Lost to Jake Fellows (Georgetown) 7-5, 6-0
Rd. 64 - Def. Benedict Badza (Hampton) 6-1, 6-0
Rd. 32 - Def. Luke Garner (Navy) 6-0, 6-1
Rd. 16 - Def. Keegan Rice (Virginia) 6-3, 6-4
Quarterfinals - Def. Mans Dahlberg (Virginia) 7-5, 6-3
Semifinals - Lost to Connor van Schalkwyk (ODU) 6-2, 6-2
Rd. 64 - Def. Timeo Puech (Longwood) 6-1, 6-4
Rd. 32 - Lost to Maxime St-Hilaire (Va. Tech) 6-3, 6-0
Rd. 64 - Def. Filippos Zachiotis (Mt. St. Mary’s) 6-2, 6-1
Rd. 32 - Def. Matija Samardzic (Liberty) 6-3, 6-1
Rd. 16 - Def. Akira Morgenstern (Georgetown) 3-6, 6-4, 6-2
Quarterfinals - Def. Maxime St-Hilaire (Va. Tech) 7-5, 6-3
Semifinals - Def. Cosme Rolland de Ravel (ODU) 6-2, 6-2
Finals - Def. #20 Dylan Dietrich (UVA) 6-4, 6-3
Doubles
Rd. 64 - Bye
Rd. 32 - Def. Manfredi Vergine/Evan Edwards (Radford) 8-2
Rd. 16 - Def. Edson Sanchez/Markus Giersiepen (JMU) 8-2
Quarterfinals - Def. Julian Lozano/Ilyas Milad Fahim (Va. Tech) 8-5
Semifinals - Lost to Joaquim Almedia/Siwanat Auytaykul (Liberty) 5-7, 6-4, 10-8
Rd. 64 - Def. Marko Stoilkovski/Benedict Badza (Hampton) 8-5
Rd. 32 - Def. Harrison Lee/Dennis Wiebe 8-7 (7-5)
Rd. 16 - Lost to Joaquim Almedia/Siwanat Auytaykul (Va. Tech) 8-1
Rd. 64 - Bye
Rd. 32 - Def. Alexander Karman/Nikita Bortnichek (W&M) 8-0
Rd. 16 - Def. Ty Switzer/Douglas Yaffa (Virginia) 8-5
Quarterfinals - Lost to Matt Harper/Alberto Orso (Va. Tech) 8-6