The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Ito named UTR/ITA National Player of the Month
11.05.2019 | Men's Tennis
With senior Yuya Ito earning the October award following freshman Siem Woldeab in September, a Longhorn has claimed the newly-created honor in both of its first two months.
Austin, Texas – Texas Men's Tennis senior Yuya Ito was named the UTR/ITA National Player of the Month for October, the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) announced Tuesday. After freshman Siem Woldeab earned the award in September, a Longhorn has claimed the newly-created honor in both of its first two months.
During October, Ito won the ITA All-American Championships singles title in Tulsa, Okla., and then partnered with senior Christian Sigsgaard to capture the doubles title at the ITA Texas Regionals in Waco.
At the ITA All-American, Ito ran off six-straight singles victories, five of which came against opponents ranked in the top 33 with four of those in the top 25 and two in the top 15. It was capped with a win over No. 10 Sam Riffice of Florida for the title. In that stretch, Ito lost only one set, which was by a score of 7-5 to No. 25 Tim Sandkaulen of Ole Miss. In doubles, Ito and Sigsgaard downed the No. 5 duo of Mukerl Dellien and Marius Frosa of Wichita State before falling to No. 18 Dominik Kellovsky and Matej Vocel of Oklahoma State.
Ito and Sigsgaard then competed at the ITA Texas Regionals where they put together five-straight wins for the doubles title. The final two matches ended in two-set victories over pairs from Baylor.
The newly instituted awards program honors individuals from of all five collegiate divisions (NCAA DI, DII, DIII, NAIA and Junior College) each month during the fall and on a weekly basis in the spring. A combination of Universal Tennis Rating (UTR) Powered by Oracle and Oracle ITA National Rankings are utilized to determine the honorees, who are nominated by their institution's athletics communications directors.
Ito, Sigsgaard and Woldeab will play in the Oracle ITA National Fall Championships from Nov. 6-10 in Newport Beach, Calif. All three will compete in singles, while Ito and Sigsgaard will partner in doubles.
