Pioneer sophomore Andrew Landwerlen and freshman Martin Zimmermann captured the men’s doubles title Sunday at five-day Las Vegas Intercollegiate Tennis Association Mountain Regional Tournament.
The Landwerlen-Zimmermann tandem completed a 5-0 tournament run in a bracket of 64 teams with their 9-7 championship win over University of New Mexico’s Miles Bugby and Johnny Parkes.
On their road to the championship, Landwerlen and Zimmermann defeated four doubles teams, with three of these four matches decided by a three set margin.
In the opening round of play on Wednesday, Landwerlen and Zimmermann defeated a University of Utah team 8-5. They followed the win with a next-day victory over a pair of Cadets from the Air Force Academy.
Landwerlen and Zimmermann, hailing from Las Cruces, New Mexico and Ludwigshafen, Germany, respectively, continued their domination on the hard courts, advancing to the semifinal and the final with their wins over two doubles teams from Brigham Young University.
Landwerlen and Zimmermann defeated the first of two BYU teams 8-6 on Friday, and followed this with a 9-7 win over another team on Saturday. This gave them a spot in the final against Bugby and Parkes.
“Martin and Andrew played outstanding doubles this week and are very deserving of the doubles titles,” head coach Danny Westerman said. “I learned a lot about our team this weekend and Martin [Zimmermann] and Andrew [Landwerlen] really came together in doubles.”
With their ITA Mountain Regional win, the pair automatically earned a berth in the ITA National Indoor Tournament Nov. 6-9.
Zimmermann, who took second in singles, will also qualify for the ITA National Indoors in singles play.
Zimmermann’s run for No. 1 on the singles court ended with a three set loss to Boise States’ Clancy Shields, “one of the top player’s in the region,” according to Westerman.
After winning the first set against Shields 7-6, Zimmermann dropped the next two 6-4, 6-2, as the fatigue of playing 10 matches in a five-day span affected his play.
“Martin had a great weekend, especially in his first regional, and he gave [Shields] a great match,” said Westerman of Zimmermann’s impressive and enduring weeklong play.
The Pioneer’s return to the courts at the University of Texas Fall Invitational on Oct. 31 through Nov. 2.
