WICHITA FALLS, Texas – Redshirt junior Tristan Da Lio (Casablanca/Academie des Hauts de Nimes) and junior Vladimir Gnilozubov (Kazakhstan, Astana/Kazakhstan) rolled through the doubles bracket to claim the ITA South Central Region title. Sophomore Liam Fraboulet (Lycée Kerraoul, Paimpol, France/Lycée Kerraoul) nearly ran the table as well, falling just short in a three-set battle for the singles title. With the doubles win, Da Lio/Gnilozubov will advance to the Oracle Cup that will take place Oct. 13-16 in Surprise, Ariz., that will feature the winners of all eight regions at the tournament. 

Da Lio/Gnilozubov entered as the second seed in the tournament and received a bye in the first round. Following an 8-4 win in the second round, the duo fought past a couple of tight 8-6 victories to advance to the championship match versus the pair of Toyos/Pineda from Midwestern State. They entered as the fifth seed and defeated the top seed duo from Cameron on their way to making it to the title match. Da Lio/Gnilozubov took charge early and never looked back in taking the championship match by a score of 8-5. 

Fraboulet was not seeded on the singles bracket, but made an impact reaching the finals. He opened with a pair of straight set wins in his first two matches. He ran into Maciel in the third round, the second-seed out of St. Mary's and Fraboulet had to persevere after dropping the first set, 4-6. He answered with a 6-2, 6-4 win and he took the momentum from that rally win to grab a pair of straight set wins and move to the title match. He matched up with Toyos from Midwestern, yes the same Toyos that also played in the doubles final and Fraboulet gave him all he could. After losing the first set 2-6, Fraboulet rebounded to take the second 6-4 and tried to fight back in the third before coming up just short at 3-6 to finish second. 

Several others claimed wins throughout the tournament. Gnilozubov slated as the seventh seed in the singles bracket, cruised to a pair of 6-2, 6-0 wins in his first two matches before coming up just short in a tight two set match against Hall from Midwestern State. Redshirt junior Sascha Brechtel (Neustadt an der Weinstraße, Germany/Kurpfalz Gymnasium Mannheim ) won his opener in straight sets before falling to the same Hall that also beat Gnilozubov in a tough three-set battle, 3-6, 6-4, 1-6.  

Junior Pablo Santibanez (Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico/CETYS Universidad) and sophomore Blayze O'Keefe (Las Vegas, NV/Odyssey Charter) each lost their first matches in the main singles bracket, but rebounded in the playback. Santibanez grabbed a straight set win to start the playback and then won in a three-set battle to advance to face teammate O'Keefe. O'Keefe had no issues in his matches winning all three in straight sets, including a win over teammate Santibanez. He didn't get to play his semifinal match due to weather as they had to move the matches inside Sunday limiting how many were able to play. 

Senior Jean-Laurent Pageault (Perrigny, France/Academi des Hauts de Nimes)/Fraboulet combined for a pair of wins in the doubles bracket taking a dominating 8-1 win to open the tournament and then grabbed an 8-5 win. They then fell to Toyos/Pineda the pair from Midwestern that faced Da Lio/Gnilozubov for the title. Santibanez/O'Keefe won a tough 9-8 match in their opener and then dropped a 8-9 match in the second round.  

The ITA Regional Tournament wraps up the fall portion of the schedule for the Mustangs.