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kesaris kozy at ita fall championships

Men's Tennis

Kesaris Finishes Runner-Up, Kozyreva Consolation Champ at ITA Championships

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. — Damon Kesaris ended his incredible run of top-tier play on the final day of the ITA Fall Championships by finishing runner-up against No. 1 overall Yuya Ito of Texas in a competitive three-set match. 

After going down 4-3 in the first set, Kesaris broke serve to tie the match up again at 4-all and then win the next game for a 5-4 lead. Ito would hold serve in the next game and break serve before eventually taking the set on a deuce point, 7-5. 

In the middle set, Kesaris jumped out to a quick 4-1 advantage and would hold that lead with aggressive play, eventually finishing off Ito 6-3. 

The match would be decided in a seesaw third set which was deadlocked at 3-all before Ito won the next game and then broke serve to go-ahead 5-3. The ninth game of the set would once again come down to a deciding deuce point that Ito was able to ultimately pull out for the title win.

Kesaris finished the tournament with a 5-1 record and upset several opponents as an unranked player. 

On the women's side, No. 68 Mariia Kozyreva battled through two close sets to pull out a 6-4, 7-6(7) victory over No. 37 Vivian Wolff from Georgia to earn the consolation singles title. After dropping her first match of the tournament, Kozyreva won her next five and took down three ranked opponents in her championship run. 

The Fall Championships were the final fall tournament for both the men's and women's teams. New ITA rankings will be released on Wednesday. 
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Players Mentioned

Mariia Kozyreva

Mariia Kozyreva

5' 4"
Junior
Damon Kesaris

Damon Kesaris

6' 0"
Senior

Players Mentioned

Mariia Kozyreva

Mariia Kozyreva

5' 4"
Junior
Damon Kesaris

Damon Kesaris

6' 0"
Senior