Junior Brysl Libao and Senior Brad Cummins Win ITA West Regional Doubles Championship to Repeat as All-Americans

Photo credit: Jeremy Kniffin

Posted: Oct 06, 2019

The University of Redlands men's tennis team competed at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) West Regional Championships in Claremont over the weekend, with junior Brysl Libao (Redlands, CA) and senior Brad Cummins (Rancho Mirage, CA) coming away as the Men's Open Doubles Champions.

With this feat, Libao and Cummins become All-Americans for the second time in their careers and qualify for the ITA National Championships in Rome, Georgia, on October 17-20.

Seeded first in the tournament, the duo defeated counterparts from Pomona-Pitzer Colleges (8-3), Cal Lutheran University (8-5), and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges (8-6) to advance to the semifinal. There, Libao and Cummins met the fourth-seeded CMS team of Jack Katzman and Robert Liu and earned an impressive 8-3 win for a spot in Sunday's final. The Redlands tandem squared off against the No. 2-seed, Varun Shanker and James Wei of Caltech. Libao and Cummins managed to break early in both sets while keeping great pressure on their opponents at the net and with their keen returns en route to a 6-2, 6-4 victory for the championship.

Highlighting the team's singles success, Cummins also advanced to the final of the consolation draw of Flight B. After dropping his opening, main-draw match, he rebounded with a 6-1, 6-0 showing over Len Kamemoto of Chapman University. He also defeated players from Colorado College (6-1, 3-6, 10-6) and Occidental College (6-3, 6-3) to make it to the final round.

First-year Jeremiah Yang (Sanger, CA) impressed in his Bulldog debut by earning a spot in the semifinals of the consolation draw of Flight C. Following a main-draw loss, he responded with a solid 6-4, 6-0 win over Cal Lutheran's Erik Lundeberg before topping Ryan Fabre of Chapman, 6-1, 6-1.

In addition, Libao, first-year Donovan Lilov (San Diego, CA), senior Andrew Leahy (Claremont, CA), and first-year Michael Cabacungan (Palm Springs, CA) posted at least one singles victory on the weekend.

The Bulldog men's tennis team looks forward to cheering on Libao and Cummins at the ITA National Championships.

The spring season begins with the Alumni Match on Saturday, January 25, at 11 a.m. In addition, Redlands faces Point Loma Nazarene University in an exhibition on Verdieck Courts on Saturday, February 1.