FT MYERS, Fla. – Just one day after teaming up with
Simon Felix for national doubles championship, Embry-Riddle sophomore
Deni Zmak captured the singles title at the 2013 USTA/ITA National Small College Championships. Zmak extended Embry-Riddle's dominance in the event, as he became the third straight Embry-Riddle player to claim the national crown, following in the footsteps of
Chris Freeman (2011) and
Patrick Besch (2012).
Zmak entered the tournament as the No. 1 seed and flew through the bracket with three straight-set victories in a row, picking up where he left off in regional play.
Zmak's opponent in the title match was third seeded Marco Carvajal of Oklahoma Baptist. Zmak got off to a slow start, falling behind 4-1, thanks in part to Carvajal's solid play from the baseline. Down 5-2, Zmak changed his tactics and won the next three games to tie the set 5-5. He continued to pressure Carvajal and behind the strength of his serve, won the first set 7-6 with a 7-2 decision in the tiebreaker.
The second set was more comfortable for Zmak who stuck with the strategy that got him the win in the first set. He went up a break early and stayed on serve the rest of the way to win 6-3 and come away with the championship
Winning the national title did not mean the conclusion of Zmak's day on the court as he returned to action a few hours later to compete in the singles bracket of the ITA "Super Bowl". The "Super Bowl" features the four divisional winners (NAIA, JUCO, NCAA III, NCAA II) competing against each other, with the "Super Bowl" champion earning a wild card into the USTA/ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships.
Zmak's "Super Bowl" opponent was West Florida's Bruno Savi who won the NCAA II national title. In the first game of the first set, Zmak fell behind 0-40 on serve. The ERAU sophomore regrouped and found his serve once again, emerging with a 6-3, 6-4 win to advance to Sunday's "Super Bowl" final.
In his final match of the day, Zmak teamed up with Felix in the doubles bracket of the "Super Bowl". Their opponents from Concordia (N.Y.) were somewhat familiar as ERAU and Concordia squared off during team competition this past spring. Daniele Piludu and Benas Majauskas won the NCAA II doubles title, but were unable to get by Zmak and Felix in the first set as the ERAU earned a 6-3 win in that frame.
The second set was a different story as the Eagle pair went down 5-0. Zmak and Felix were able to win three straight games to make the score 5-3, but the early deficit was too much to overcome and they dropped the set 6-3.
The Eagles jumped out to a 3-1lead in the third set, but in the fifth game, Piludu and Majauskas held five break points against Zmak's serve. At that point, Felix took over at the net and his aggressive play helped ERAU take the game 4-1. Concordia held on their next serve to make it 4-2 and bring Felix to the service line. In the first two sets, the Clipper pair was able to break Felix in each of his service games. The third set was a different story as the senior held serve twice and backed up his teammate at the net to seal the 6-2 third-set victory.
Embry-Riddle's women's double team of Kristina Marova and Hui-I Huang was also in action on Saturday. The duo won a national title on Friday, but was unable to get by Barry's Emma Onila and Linda Fritschken, falling 6-1, 6-1 in the "Super Bowl" semis.
Zmak and Felix will play for "Super Bowl" titles on Sunday morning. Zmak will take on junior college champion Mate Cutura in the singles final at 9 a.m., and will team up with Felix to face NCAA III champions Palmer Campbell and Brantner Jones from Middlebury in the doubles final slated for noon.
