North Carolina State University Athletics
NC State's Boward Advances In ITA All-American Championships
10/8/2000 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Stone Mountain, GA - NC State's Ryan Boward won three matches in span of two days to advance to the round of 32 in pre-qualifying for the Men's ITA All-American Championships at the Lincoln Tennis Center in Stone Mountain, Ga. Boward will play Quentin Blakeney of Kansas at 9 a.m. on Oct. 9.
Boward, a junior of Charlotte, NC, began his run with a victory over Jay Patel of the University of Denver, 6-1, 6-4. Later in the day, he fought back late in the match for a win against Fungai Tongoona of Nebraska, 7-5, 3-6, 6-1. To cap his charge in the tournament, Boward downed Bazvan Illie of Tennessee Tech 6-3, 6-1 Sunday evening to advance to the fourth round, which is played Monday.
"This is a tremendous breakthrough for him," said head coach Eric Hayes. "Last season, he played some for us, but he has really solidified himself for the spring with this performance. Yesterday, he started as one of 256 and now he has survived to the last 32. That is saying a lot because this is one of our toughest tournaments of the year."
The ITA (Intercollegiate Tennis Association) All-American Championships represents the second leg of the collegiate Grand Slam. The ITA Grand Slam also includes the T. Rowe Price National Clay Court Championships, the Rolex National Indoor Championships and NCAA Championships.
