#1 Men's Tennis Hosts #38 Luther to Open NCAA Tournament on Friday

CHICAGO -- The top-ranked University of Chicago men's tennis team will open its NCAA Tournament run on Friday morning as the Maroons host #38 Luther in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. First serve of the match is scheduled for 10 AM CT.

#1 UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO NOTES:

• UChicago wrapped up the regular season with an 18-3 record overall after taking down #62 Rochester, #16 Emory, and #6 Case Western Reserve in the UAA Championship.

• The Maroons won their fourth UAA title in program history with a 4-1 win over Case Western.

• UChicago have been sitting in the top spot in the ITA rankings for two weeks the first time since February 12, 2025.

• The Maroons finished second in the ITA Indoor National Championships with wins over #6 Emory and #1 Denison before falling to #4 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps in the championship match.

• The Maroons have been ranked in the top-5 of the ITA rankings for 27 consecutive polls, trailing only Claremont-Mudd-Scripps who has been ranked in the top-5 for 29 consecutive polls.

Ajer Sher leads the team with an 21-7 record in singles play this season.

Emil Grantcharov sits at #7 and

Shrikeshav Murugesan came in at #17 in the latest ITA NCAA Division III rankings. Grantcharov is 15-7 on the season, and Murugesan comes in at 11-5 overall.

Alexander Ekstrand and

Christian Liew have been near unstoppable this season with 16-3 and 14-4 record in singles. Ekstrand is currently ranked #28 and Liew is ranked #46 in the ITA NCAA Division III rankings.

• Murugesan (#1), Grantchatov (#2), and Ekstrand (#3) are all ranked in the latest edition of the NCAA Regional rankings.

• Liew and

Murugesan won the ITA Central Regional this fall to lock up ITA Doubles All-American honors.

• The doubles team of

Alexander Ekstrand and

Markus Ekstrand is ranked #2 overall in Region VI.

Albert Mackey and

Heyang Li also reached the ITA Central Region doubles finals before falling to their teammates. The freshman duo is ranked #8 in the ITA Central Region rankings.

• Murugesan and

Jack Wong lead the Maroons with 15 doubles wins overall.

• With a win, the Maroons will advance to the third round of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday afternoon where they will take on the winner of #11 Kenyon and #23 Gustavus Adolphus.

#38 LUTHER COLLEGE NOTES:

• #38 Luther enters the NCAA Tournament with a 22-3 record overall on the season.

• The Norse have won 11 consecutive matches, including a pair of wins over Loras and Coe to win the ARC Tournament for the 12th time overall and the 7th consecutive time.

• Luther is 4-3 overall against ranked opponents with wins over #23 Grinnell, #52 Coe, #67 Union (NY), and #71 Rose-Hulman.

• Gerardo Mainou has been the top singles player this year with a 23-5 record overall, mainly at the #4 singles spot.

• Joao Benvenutti has also added 21 singles wins with a 21-6 record, mainly at #1 singles. He is currently sitting at #4 overall in the NCAA Region VII rankings.

• In doubles play, the duo of Abhay Chhabra and Benvenutti has been the top team with a 25-4 record overall. The duo is currently ranked #10 overall in the ITA Central Region and #4 in the NCAA Region VII rankings.

• The Norse are 8-11 overall in NCAA Tournament play, but they are just 2-6 in the past 15 years.

• The lone NCAA Tournament wins since 2011 for Luther came against Rose-Hulman, both yesterday and in 2022.

SERIES HISTORY:

• UChicago leads the all-time series 3-0 over Luther College.

• The Maroons took down the Norse 9-0 in their last meeting in 2014.

• This will be the first-ever NCAA Tournament meeting between Luther and UChicago.

TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE:

Thursday, May 7

10 AM - #38 Luther 4, #71 Rose-Hulman 0

2 PM - #22 Gustavus Adolphus 4, Greenville 0

Friday, May 8

10 AM - #1 UChicago vs. #38 Luther

2 PM - #10 Kenyon vs. #22 Gustavus Adolphus

Saturday, May 9

11 AM - Winner of Match 3 vs. Winner of Match 4