ST. PETER, Minn./EAU CLAIRE, Wis. – Saturday was a busy day for the Yellowjacket men's tennis team, as the team was competing in essentially three different tournaments in two different places.
 
Following Friday's action at the ITA Midwest Regional, the Yellowjackets had one doubles team left standing as the tournament headed to the second round. Additionally, a number of players were competing in the ITA consolation rounds, where the Yellowjackets had an incredibly strong showing. There was also an individual making a run in the ITA Midwest Regional "B" Singles draw, and finally, a number of Yellowjackets competed Saturday in Eau Claire, where UW-Superior competed in a dual against St. Norbert College.
 
In the second round of the ITA Doubles, Yellowjackets Jacob Zacharias (Cambridge, Minn./Cambridge-Isanti) and Yash Chhabra () advanced to the second round Friday, but their tournament run would come to an end Saturday. Zacharias and Chhabra fell to the duo of Gage Gohl and Tyler Haddorff of Gustavus Adolphus College, falling 8-1, ending their tournament run.
 
Consolation action commenced Saturday, and the Yellowjackets ran the table in both singles and doubles play.
 
In the singles, Sharan Kanugovi () defeated Marek Woytasik 8-4 in the Round of 16 to advance to the quarterfinals. There, Kanugovi took down Renan Revite from Concordia University Wisconsin by the same 8-4 score. Next up was a semifinal match against A.J. Willkins of Central College, and, you guessed it, Kanugovi knocked him off by a score of 8-4. The victories set up a match in the consolation championship against Jack Onkka, and Knaugovi emerged victorious by an 8-3 margin.
 
Consolation doubles saw Yellowjackets Igor Guetten Chaves (Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil/Colégio Adventista) and Ren Kurachi (Yokohama, Japan/Yokosuka Gakuin) get some redemption from Friday's loss. In the Round of 16 match, Guetten Chaves and Kurachi defeated Mason Meyer and Cooper Anderson of Saint John's 8-7, taking the tiebreaker 7-5. The win sent the Yellowjackets to the quarterfinals where they defeated Alexander Strumlauf and Trent Devore from Cornell, 8-4. Next up was a semifinal match against the UW-Whitewater duo of Josh Guillermo and Payton Adkisson, which the Yellowjackets won 8-3. The Yellowjackets and Warhawks weren't done, however, as Guetten Chaves and Kurachi met Whitewater's Chase Lindwall and Jordan Oaks in the final. It was about as exciting a match as there was in the tournament, with the Yellowjackets picking up the 8-6 win.
 
Lucca Paladini () won a pair of matches in the ITA Midwest Regional "B" Singles draw Friday, moving him into the Round of 16 Saturday. Paladini went the distance against Parker Sprague of UW-Whitewater, dropping the first set 3-6 before winning the second in convincing fashion, 6-0. Paladini then outlasted Sprague in the tiebreaker, winning 10-4 to take the match and advance to the quarterfinals.
 
That's where Paladini's run came to an end. Paladini took the first set against Luther College's Juan Hernandez, 6-3, but Hernandez came storming back to win the second set 6-1. The momentum kept going for Hernandez, who won the tiebreaker 10-2 to take the match and end Paladini's march through the bracket.
 
With the end of play Saturday, the Yellowjackets' time at the ITA Midwest Regional came to an end.
 
In other action Saturday, the Yellowjackets won their first dual match of the season, downing St. Norbert 6-3 at the Menard Tennis Center in Eau Claire, Wis.
 
The 'Jackets jumped out to an early 2-1 lead at the end of doubles play. The No. 1 pairing of Vitor Sakakibara (São Paulo, Brazil/Colégio Saber) and Mateo Abarca Pino (Riobamba, Ecuador/El Despertar) found the going tough, as they fell to Brett Daniels and Jackson Harpt 8-1. The other two teams more than made up for it, however. At No. 2 doubles, Cullen Brown () and Brandon Chu () bested David Vandenberg and Josh Brown 8-5. Then at No. 3 doubles, Simon Potapov (Noginsk, Russia/Feniks Secondary General School) and Bobby Powless () had little trouble with Brian Coulter and Owen McDonough, winning 8-2.
 
Sakakibara fell at No. 1 singles to St. Norbert's Daniels, going down in straight sets 4-6, 1-6. The Green Knights also picked up the win at No. 2 singles, where Harpt downed Abarca Pino 6-3, 7-5.
 
From there, however, it was all Yellowjackets.
 
Chu was victorious at No. 3 singles, defeating Coulter in easy fashion, 6-0, 6-1. Similarly, the Yellowjackets' Brown had little trouble with St. Norbert's Brown, winning 6-0, 6-3.
 
Powless dropped the first set to Vandenberg at No. 5 singles, 3-6, before coming back to take the second set 7-6 and the third set 7-5. Potapov also dropped his first set, falling 4-6 to McDonough, before winning the second set 6-2 and the tiebreak 1-0.
 
Next up for the Yellowjackets is a date with Carleton College to close out the fall portion of their schedule. The match is set to begin at 12:30 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 8 at the Pat Lamb Tennis Courts in Northfield, Minn.