Oct. 5, 2006
Tulsa, Okla. – Senior Stephen Bass and junior Sheeva Parbhu each dropped their opening round match, but both responded with victories in the first round of consolations in the main draw of the Polo Ralph Lauren ITA All-American Championships at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center on Thursday. Parbhu upended No. 93 Jordan Delass of Georgia Tech, 3-6, 6-4, 6-2, while Bass got past Sergi Vila of Drake, 1-6, 6-3, 6-4.
In the first round of the 64-player main draw, the 20th-ranked Parbhu (Omaha, Neb./Millard North H.S.) took the opening set from junior Kaden Hensel of Tennessee in a tiebreaker, 7-6 (5). Hensel, who defeated two other ranked players en route to the main draw, took the next two sets, 6-3, 6-2. Hensel improved to 11-1 on the season.
Parbhu closed his day on a high note with his victory over Delass. As opposed to his first match of the day, he lost the opening set to Georgia Tech’s No. 2 player, 6-3. Parbhu squared the match at a set apiece with a 6-4 victory and then cruised in the third set, 6-2. Parbhu is now 4-2 on the season and 69-17 for his career.
With the consolation victory, he advances into the second round and will face Steve Moneke of Ohio State Friday at 9:00 a.m.
The 21st-ranked Bass (Bronxville, NY/Iona Prep School) came up short in Thursday’s first round meeting with third-seeded Travis Helgeson of Georgia, 6-2, 6-3. Helgeson was ranked No. 5 in the preseason ITA poll. Bass found himself in quite a hole, losing the opening set, 6-1, to Vila in his consolation match, but battled back and swept the next two sets, 6-3, 6-4, to advance.
Bass is 2-3 on the season, 75-38 in his career and will play Michael Kokta of Baylor Friday at 9:00 a.m.
This is the first of three national championship events during the 2006-07 collegiate tennis season. Two others are the ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships in November and the season-ending NCAA Championships in May in Athens, Ga.
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