(ROME, Ga.) PLNU Men's Tennis made a statement on the national stage at the ITA Cup this past weekend, with Alexander Leischner and Tyler Davis both picking up a pair of singles wins against the top competition in NCAA Division II.
 
Leischner, the ITA West Regional singles champion, won his first two matches to advance all the way to the national semifinals.
 
In the first round, he took down Mario Aleksic of Maryville in straight sets (6-2, 6-3) before winning his quarterfinal matchup against third-seeded Joaquin Benoit of North Georgia (6-2, 4-6, 6-3). His tournament run ended with a semifinal loss to the top overall seed Luca Mack of Valdosta State (4-6, 2-6).
 
"Over the last two weeks I felt really good being on the court and some tactics worked out pretty well, for example serving wide and then going to the open court," Leischner said.
 
Tyler Davis, who received an at-large bid into the tournament, lost his first-round matchup with Teodor Zlatar of Harding (2-6, 4-6) before winning his subsequent two matches in the consolation bracket against seeded opponents.
 
Davis defeated fourth-seeded Brennan Cimpeanu of Hillsdale (3-6, 6-2, 6-2) in his first consolation bracket match, before beating second-seeded Alejandro Ibanez Gallego of Barry (6-1, 2-1). He then advanced to the consolation championship, but that match was not played.
 
In doubles, Leischner teamed up with Fabian Penzkofer after their second-placed finish at the ITA West Regional. The duo lost their first-round ITA Cup match against the second-seeded pairing of Tomas Descarrega/Facundo Bermejo of West Florida (2-6, 5-7).
 
Leischner and Penzkofer then advanced past Concordia University Irvine's Mike Jansen/ James Caddies in the consolation bracket before falling to Gonzalo Fernandez/Joaquin Bianchi of Texas at Tyler: 5-7, 6-7 (5-7).
 
After a strong team showing, Leischner and PLNU Men's Tennis are confident going into their spring season.
 
"I saw that we can beat everyone in our conference and even in the U.S., so I think with a lot of work we can do really well this year," Leischner said. "I am looking forward to this season and we will see what happens."