Caltech men’s tennis freshmen Varun Shanker (Midland, Mich. / Midland Dow) and James Wei (Chappaqua, N.Y. / Horace Greeley) rallied to claim a three-set victory and earn All-America status as the program’s first representatives at the NCAA Championships. The record-setting duo shook off some early nerves to dominate the second set against Christopher Newport University’s […]
Caltech men’s tennis freshmen Varun Shanker (Midland, Mich. / Midland Dow) and James Wei (Chappaqua, N.Y. / Horace Greeley) rallied to claim a three-set victory and earn All-America status as the program’s first representatives at the NCAA Championships.
The record-setting duo shook off some early nerves to dominate the second set against Christopher Newport University’s top doubles pairing and outlasted their foes in the decisive third to advance to the quarterfinals, where they will face the tournament’s top-seeded tandem from Middlebury College, which just claimed the team national championship on Wednesday.
CNU’s team picked up an early break and held on for a 6-4 victory in the first set, but Shanker and Wei found their composure to record an early break of their own in a quick 6-1 second set. After a back-and-forth first eight games in the third set, the Beavers held serve to lead 5-4 and finally came through with another break to seal the historic win.
Shanker and Wei will take the courts at approximately 3:30 p.m. (not before); live stats and video are available here (click each court for video).
